Reg 3 farmers given access to Parika Conservancy

…Govt working to reverse APNU/AFC “detrimental” agriculture policies

Farmers in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) will now be granted access to the Parika Conservancy Dam to aid in operations at their farmlands.
This materialised after Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha would have met and engaged farmers of Parika, Ruby, Vergenoegen, Hague and Den Amstel within the course of Thursday and Friday.
The Ministry is now seeking to reverse the damages that were caused by the former coalition Government, by reaching out to farmers and removing the draconian measures which were implemented to stifle the sector.
Officials from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) were also present to hear the concerns of the people.
The Minister told stakeholders that the new Government recognises the importance of the farming community in Guyana, as they seek to re-establish the country as the breadbasket of the Caribbean. Issues which can be fixed immediately to alleviate the current situation will be done while the other portion will be set aside in the 2021 budgetary allocation.
“We recognise the important role in which you, the farmers, are playing in bringing in wealth, creating jobs for our country. We will continue to ensure that we support the people in the agriculture sector, the farmers…We take it very seriously that our farmers are important people. This is only the beginning.”
He lamented on the former APNU/AFC Government’s “detrimental” policies, including exorbitant land rental fees, which has since been slashed. Mustapha reminded that such incentives provide an environment for the industry to thrive.
“Over the past five years, we’ve seen the policies that were implemented by the former Government. Those policies were very detrimental to the farming communities, to the people of our country…The land rental that you were paying in 2014 is the same land rental that you will paying back again today,” he shared.
Along with increased taxation, the former Administration had imposed increases on land rent and other charges to farmers in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary – Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA). Within the past five years, land rentals increased from $1000 to $7000 per acre every year. Drainage and irrigation charges increased from $2500 per acre to $8000 per acre every year. Additionally, rent for cattle pastures increased from $487 per acre to $2500, annually. Some of these increases were over 600 per cent and have since been reversed by the PPP. The Minister also alluded to the reversal of Value Added Tax on agricultural equipment and supplies by the new Government to aid the farming sector in keeping with the manifesto promises. From the 2020 budget, 18.4 billion has been budgeted to improve and implement new initiatives in the agricultural sector – 50 per cent of which was already spent by the former coalition Administration. (G12)