Dominica approves low-cost State land leases for young farmers

Roseau, Dominica: The Commonwealth of Dominica is set to establish an Agricultural Land Lease Facility following the approval by the Cabinet on Wednesday. Under the facility, young farmers will be given 300 acres of state land for exclusive agriculture use and the sites for the land leasing have already been identified.

As per the facility agreement, the allocation of State lands for agricultural leasing with parcels ranging from 1 to 5 acres, leased at EC$1.00 per acre per annum for the first year. It will provide you with an option to renew the subject for continued use for agricultural purposes.

For the process, the government will also appoint a Technical Advisory Committee to oversee farmer selection and placement. The committee will guide enterprise development, recommend training, provide technical support and assist with investment planning and market access.

In the terms and conditions, the farmers will have to use the land for exclusive agricultural use and need to sign a five-year lease term. There will be restrictions on subletting and habitation with compliance monitoring and automatic termination for breach.

The eligibility criteria will include that the land will be available for young and long-constrained farmers, active involvement or proposals in agriculture production, farmer registration, valid Produce Seller’s License and compliance with Social Security Requirement.

The land will be used for agriculture and Agro-processing and the lands will be available in the communities such as Newfoundland Estate, Londonderry Estate, Woodfordhill-Mango Gutter, Wesley-Joe Burton area, Morne Prosper, Charlotte Valley, Savanne York, Williams Settlement, Wotten Waven, Blenheim Estate, Pointe Mulatre Estate-Fond Thomas, Hertford Estate-Warner and Richmond Estate, Castle Bruce.