Increase in land rates for Region Five farmers…Old prices were “unrealistic,” could not be sustained

Increase in land rates for Region Five farmers…Old prices were “unrealistic,” could not be sustained – Trotman

Jan 20, 2017 News

Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman, during the Post-Cabinet Press Briefings yesterday, said that “by no stretch of the imagination” can the proposed increase in land rates for Region Five farmers be called ‘exorbitant’.
The Minister’s comments would come days after protests by sections of Cash Crop, Rice and Cattle farmers of the Mahaica/Berbice district.
The Ministry of Agriculture earlier this week, issued a press statement saying that for the past 18 years, farmers were required to pay $2500 per acre annually, despite the increasing cost of material and supplies in the provision of drainage and irrigation services by the Mahaica Mahaicony and Abary/Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA).
Trotman was quizzed by this publication yesterday on the formula that was used to arrive at the proposed rates. However, he could not say.
“What I can say is that for the greater part of a year, the Minister of Agriculture has been repeatedly saying to Cabinet that fees currently charged cannot sustain the operation at MMA: We need to be clearing sluices, drainage, flooding elsewhere, and pumps being vandalized. So it was felt there had to be some adjustments.”
The Minister said that he believes, everyone in the industry knows that the prices were “unrealistic and could not be sustained.
“Yes while they had to be raised, we don’t consider $416 (monthly) for an acre of land to be unreasonable for a person who is earning and making a profit from that land.”
The Minister said that these fees will lead to better stewardship by the MMA/ADA Authority to ensure that farmers can farm and get their produce from severe or excessive losses from flooding and droughts.
The MMA – a statutory agency under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture is required to provide Drainage and Irrigation services within the MMA/ADA area; as laid out in the Authority’s Act. The areas which falls under the MMA preview are: – Abary/Berbice, Abary/Mahaicony and Mahaica/Mahaicony.

The following is a breakdown of drainage and irrigation charges by area:-