By Clifford Stanley

SOME 600 residents of villages in Mahaicony, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice), will soon benefit from formalisation of land rights due to an ongoing Land Tenure Regularisation Programme (LTRP) now being executed by the Mahaica/Mahaicony/ Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA).Chairman of the MMA/ADA Board of Directors, Dr Kenneth Sealey, disclosed last week that freehold and state lands in these villages are currently being surveyed as the first part of a process for the issuing of titles to the occupiers. This will enable them to optimise land use and benefit from the economic growth which is possible with formal ownership.

Sealey said that, at the moment, most of the farmers on the lands between the Mahaica and Mahaicony rivers, referred to as the Mahaica/Mahaicony Block, don’t have documents to show ownership of their lands.

Since the new board took office, he said, members had vowed to prioritise empowerment of the farmers in the Mahaica /Mahaicony Block by assisting them to obtain formal ownership of the lands by title.

He said: “It is known that secure property rights are a key determinant of economic development. People in these villages will be able to use their titles as collateral for investments. There will be significant pay-off from this long neglected programme for the Mahaica/Mahaicony block.”

The payment of rates and taxes from these lands, once titles are issued, will also help to broaden the economic base of the MMA/ADA.
Sealey said that with the current state of the work, residents in at least three villages: Dantzig, Perseverance and Content, can expect to get their leases for their freehold and state lands (lands to the rear of their freehold lands) by the end of this year.

General Manager of the MMA/ADA, Aubrey Charles, who also spoke with the Guyana Chronicle, said the LTRP in the Mahaica/Mahaicony block targets over 3,000 acres of agricultural lands. He explained: “We had started this LTRP sometime in the latter half of last year with, first of all, an occupational survey of both the freehold lands (privately owned lands) and the state lands. We don’t have a special interest in the freehold or transported lands, but the information that we are gathering from the occupation of the freehold lands is helping us in our recommendations as to who should get the lands at the back, and to what depth.”

He said that MMA/ADA surveyors have completed occupational surveys in the villages of Dantzig, Content and Perseverance, all within the target block; and surveys are currently in progress at Belmont and Content.

The surveyors will subsequently move on to the remaining villages in the block to complete the targeted acreage.
With respect to those villages where occupational surveys have been completed, the MMA will propose allocation of these lands to the villagers.

Once there is agreement on how the lands are allocated, MMA/ADA surveyors will then install boundaries or paals and the administrative staff will prepare leases for the occupiers. The latter activity is expected to be completed before the end of this year, Dr. Sealey said.