In the National Assembly   Minister Joubert answers questions related to his portfolios |30 September 2021

The Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Flavien Joubert, appeared before the National Assembly yesterday to answer questions relating to his portfolios.

The first question came from the MNA for Mont Buxton, Gervais Henrie, who called for an update on the Agriculture Development Fund, particularly in regards to how many farmers have expressed their interests in this scheme and the measures being undertaken to ensure that farmers pay back the money.

“From the information gathered, it is clear that there is a great number of farmers who have shown interest to take out a loan from the ADF scheme because there have been more farmers who made applications for a loan under this programme. There has actually been an increase in applications,” stated Minister Joubert.

From January to May 2021, the Development Bank approved nine ADF loans for the total sum of R8.958 million compared to nine loans for the entirety of 2020, which came up to a sum of R11.287 million.

In 2019, there were 25 loans approved for a sum of R7.3 million and 2018 saw 12 approved loans for R5.346 million.

The majority of these loans taken out for this year were for purposes such as the purchase and acquisition of new equipment, renovation works, construction of new infrastructures and to expand their farming facilities.

“Just for the first five months of 2021, we have seen great interest in this scheme and we expect to have received more applications under this scheme,” added the minister.

In the budget for 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture called for an increase in the assistance under the ADF scheme to and following a revision, loans can be taken out to a limit of R5 million.

An estimated R24 million is now available under the ADF every year.

Minister Joubert explained that there is a structure set up for repayments and arrears by the Development Bank of Seychelles and unsuccessful efforts to retrieve the debts leads to legal implications.

He noted that 53% of ADF borrowers have outstanding payments and almost half of these are considered to be a loss since they are very old loans that are irretrievable.

“The department of agriculture is also in discussion with the Ministry of Finance to reinforce these structures, especially to reinforce the loan committee that will help minimise the time it takes for loans to get approved and makes provisions for regular reports.”

The minister also replied to La Digue’s MNA, Rocky Uranie, on the accessibility of pockets of land for farmers on that island to which Minister Joubert explained that there are currently six individuals waiting for agricultural land on La Digue.

“The department of agriculture is already undertaking works with L’Union Estate to put some parcels of land at the disposal of these applicants. These are located at Anse Reunion and Grand Anse.”

“Once this exercise is completed, we feel that we will be able to satisfy the demands of the applicants and we expect to provide each applicant with at least eight hectares,” added the minister.

With the department of agriculture having asked and gained R55 million in the supplementary budget, MNA Churchill Gill queried on the types of assistance farmers will gain and how the additional funds will benefit farmers on Praslin.

“The largest portion of money from the supplementary budget will primarily go towards subsidies for animal feed and a smaller portion will go towards the reinforcement of security at certain facilities such as the agricultural store, genetics centre and Victoria Market,” explained Minister Joubert.

R2.3 million has been budgeted for security firms following revisions of some contracts.

“Farmers from Praslin usually benefit from an assistance of R25 per bags of animal feed they transport between the islands and they also benefit from other subsidies that are applicable to other services,” said Minister Joubert.

Minister Joubert also answered questions relating to the department of environment, starting off with questions from Port Glaud’s Egbert Aglae who asked about the number of contracts awarded for the cleaning of roads and  beaches.

The Landscape and Waste Management Agency (LWMA) have awarded 171 contracts which represent R6.69 million per month and another 169 contracts, which is going through the second round of the tender process, adds up to the sum of R5.671 million per month, which brings the total sum being spent for cleaning to R12.541 million every month or R150.172 million per year.

Meanwhile the department of climate change is spending R18.29 million per year for contracts relating to the cleaning of rivers. Fifty-three out of an available 60 contracts have been awarded.

The climate change has faced some budget constraints in order to pay these contractors, which is why it asked for R5.9 million in the supplementary budget last week.

Elsie Pointe