By Clifford Stanley

OVER 40 farmers in the  Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) project area were on Monday  given 50-year land leases  to mark the 50th anniversary of independence.“People who received their leases Monday  will be able to say that they got them during the jubilee celebrations,” Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ken Sealey said.

The leases will expire during another major milestone for Guyana at  the centenary celebrations of 2066.

The beneficiaries were members of farming communities  who had applied for lands varying in acreage  between the Abary and Mahaica Rivers.
Apart from individuals, including husbands and wives, at least one company, the Abary Cattle Ranch, was among the recipients  at the handing-over ceremony at the headquarters of the MMA/ADA Project at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, on Monday.

The leases were distributed by Sealey and other members of the Board of Directors.

Recipients were loud in their praise of the MMA/ADA for expediting the processing of their applications and granting approval for the leases.

One farmer, speaking on behalf of the others, said that the lease not only gave him a sense of security, but will serve as collateral in case he decides to approach a financial institution to acquire a loan to take his farming activities to higher levels of production.

Sealey said that the leases were expedited with the knowledge not only of the benefits to farmers in Region Five, (Mahaica/Berbice), but also the MMA/ADA.
“We know that people will now go fully ahead with their production and we also know that the MMA/ADA will benefit from getting additional income from rates and taxes, so that it can better fulfil its mandate of providing the services which are needed to take farming activity to a higher level,”
General Manager Aubrey Charles disclosed.

However, he noted that the MMA/ADA is constrained by a shortage of sworn land surveyors on staff, but this is being tackled urgently so that the Land Management Unit can  pursue its mandate on an ongoing basis.