100 Reg 5 farmers received land leases in 2023 – Agri Minister

– D&I work done to prepare over 28,000 acres for agriculture in region

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has continued its policy of expanding land ownership in predominantly agricultural areas, with 100 farmers in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) receiving land leases last year.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha recently revealed that the leases were distributed in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary (MMA) area, administered by the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary – Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA).
The Minister also made reference to the hundreds of farmers’ leases the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) terminated during its time in office… leases which the then PPP/C opposition had to take that Government to court for.

“During the period 2015 to 2020, a number of farmers leases were revoked by the former Administration. And like that, we had distributed, in 2022, 128 leases to farmers in the MMA scheme.”
“And this year, we have distributed 100 to farmers. So farmers now are getting leases for their land, which they can use as collaterals to the banks to get loans and increase their production,” Mustapha said.
Meanwhile, the Minister spoke of the Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) work the Government has embarked on in the region. Additionally, the Minister noted that construction has already started on replicas of the Hope Canal in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and that Region Five would get five such structures.
“In Region Five also we have done D&I work to benefit 28,500 acres of land for agriculture purposes, 15,000 acres of this is new land in the Herstelling/Berbice area,” Minister Mustapha said.
“We’ll have a number of these structures; mega structures being built across Regions Five and Six. And a number of other support structures, things as pump stations, sluices, and so on, will be built. Approximately three in Region Six and five in Region Five.”
Last year, Mustapha announced that to reduce the need for local farmers to sublet lands at exorbitant prices, the Agriculture Ministry was working on making another 10,000 acres of land in the MMA scheme available to farmers.

“We’re working on development [of] 10,000 more acres of land, where we will be doing new D&I work and dams’ construction… [For] the second crop of 2023, we can take the amount of acreage to up about 105,000 acres at the end of the year.”
“There are a lot of applications pending there for lands at MMA and these lands will be given to those persons but we will have to ensure strict measures are put in place to prevent subletting,” Mustapha had said.
Under the laws governing the leasing of State lands, no person leasing land from the Government is allowed to sublet to a third party unless written permission is sought and granted to the lessee, by the State, for this to take place.
However, there had been complaints last year that leased landholders who were residing overseas have been subletting lands in the MMA scheme to local farmers and imposing high rental prices – as much as $30,000 per acre.
This is way above the low $3500 per acres for both land rental and draining and irrigation costs that the PPP/C Administration had set after taking office in 2020. That $3500 is also a reduction from the $15,000 fee the former APNU/AFC Government had imposed after taking office in 2015. (G-3)