The improvement of land administration institutions to effectively execute land policies is one of the objectives of the National Development Strategy, with specific emphasis on Agriculture Land Policy. As the sector advanced there have been increasing applications for more agriculture lands, and still yet more appeals for more lands by current lands owners.
However, a challenge in this process is that many of Guyana’s farmers are cultivating land without security of tenure.
This could have a negative effect on agricultural production and development, and creates socio-economic insecurity.
Challenges of sub-letting
Director on the Board of the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA), Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj, stressed that the Authority’s position is that owners should be the cultivator of lands.
However, he pointed out that in the MMA area there is a significant amount of sub-letting taking place, which is against the lease agreement.
“MMA issues land leases for 50 and 99 years…the challenge we have is that some of the tillers are not the owners of the land, but when the MMA seeks to take action both parties deny that it is a violation of the lease. It is hard to prove, but we always advocate that the owners should be the ones to cultivate the land and that there should be no sub-letting,” Seeraj said.
He pointed out that the lease clearly states that there should be no sub-letting of lands.
Seeraj said that most of the farmers in the MMA, approximately 85 percent of them, adhere to the regulations, but the challenge remains to bring the others in line.
The MMA/ADA supports nearly half of national rice production, about 30-35 percent of all livestock (mostly cattle) production, and 10-15 percent of national sugar production.
The Director added that the Authority seeks to facilitate farmers in the areas as best possible, but stressed the need for cooperation.
Granted that land is a finite resource, Guyana has vast potential that is still to be developed as the country moves forward.
Application Processing
Processing of applications for Public Lands begins at the respective regional offices and clients are usually referred to the relevant regional office for initial communication and transactions concerning applications within that particular region.
Processing of Public Lands
Application for land is a two-fold exercise that occurs first at the regional offices and secondly at the Head Office in Georgetown.
The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) was established on June 1, 2001 and its establishment replaced the former Lands and Surveys Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.
To effectively fulfill the mandate of this new organization, substantive changes were necessary to transform it from a public service entity to a more business oriented organization.
The establishment of the Commission as a semi-autonomous agency offers greater flexibility, which enables divisions of land tenure regularisation, formation of new organizational structure, the introduction of new technology, and the recruitment of additional staff to be trained under a new leadership and management structure.