Africa-Press – Mauritius. Support measures for some 12 000 small sugarcane planters for crop 2022 were launched, this morning, during a ceremony held at the Bonâme Hall, Mauritius Cane Industry Authority, in Réduit.
These measures will address the financial and cash flow difficulties faced by the small and most vulnerable sugarcane planters during the harvest and plantation of their fields.
They are: payment of 80% Crop advance on the enhanced Guaranteed Price of Sugar; upfront financing by Development Bank of Mauritius (DBM) Ltd; land preparation by SME contractors; and advance Fertiliser Scheme for Crop 2022.
The Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Maneesh Gobin, and other personalities were present. Fertiliser vouchers were symbolically remitted to sugarcane planters on that occasion.
In his statement, Minister Gobin reiterated Government’s support towards the sugarcane planters’ community as the latter has had to face a drastic increase in prices especially in the prices of fertilisers.
Government, he recalled, had provided Rs 57 million in the Budget under the Advance Fertiliser Scheme this year, but the price of freight has soared five-fold and additional funding had to be made and proceed with reallocation.
The Minister emphasised that the country is currently in a very difficult period during which Government has spent a lot of money on the Wage Assistance Scheme and the Self-Employed Assistance Scheme and offered support to economic operators whose businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, it was not easy to find additional funds but with the collaboration of the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, an additional Rs 50 million has been disbursed to allocate the necessary funds to planters for them to buy fertilisers.
Moreover, Mr Gobin dwelt on other schemes being offered to planters such as the provision of mechanised equipment for them to use on their plantations given that equipment in the agricultural mechanisation unit has become old.
New mechanised equipment will be acquired, he announced. In the meantime, he stated, the services of SME contractors who have tractors and equipment will be enlisted by the MCIA. In addition, he remarked, the DBM will be offering loans to planters on a two percent interest rate.
The sugar industry, the Minister indicated, is doing well and the price of sugar on the international market is increasing and the State is continuing to provide its support to planters.
Mr Gobin recalled that there are other sectors which have been likewise affected by the pandemic when the price of fertilisers and insecticides have increased and all planters have been affected.
Government is working to find the necessary funding to support producers of controlled products in particular onion planters given that the price is already fixed, he reassured.
Discussions are ongoing with the Finance Minister to find a way to offer them an exceptional assistance for this year in the hope that next year, the price of freight will stabilise, he added.
The support measures
As is the case for the previous Crops, Government has finalised all modalities with the MCIA and Mauritius Sugar Syndicate (MSS) for the disbursement of 80% Crop advance to planters producing up to 60 tons of sugar based an estimated ex-MSS price of sugar of Rs 15,000 / ton sugar.
Thus, an amount of Rs 8,000 / ton sugar is being allocated to eligible planters as from today and fund has been earmarked from the National Resilience Fund in the Budget 2021/22.
As regards financing, the DBM will provide a loan of up to Rs 50,000 per arpent repayable at an interest of 2% per annum, subject to the borrower complying and/or satisfying all the terms and conditions of the Bank.
The loan will be reimbursed as follows: Rs 35,000 per arpent by the MCIA as grant element on behalf of the eligible planters not later than five months after disbursement of the loan by DBM and upon satisfactory completion of the cane plantation; and the balance of Rs 15,000 per arpent together with interest thereon over two years shall be repaid by the planter in two consecutive annual instalments but not later than July, and shall be recouped directly at source through the MSS.
As for land preparation, the parent Ministry has set up a scheme to enlist the services of SME contractors having the necessary equipment and expertise for de-rocking and land preparation works over a two-year period.
Under this Scheme: an initial extent of 200 ha has been earmarked under the Cane Replantation Scheme for the FY 2021/22 for land preparation works; works specifications will be aligned with those of the MCIA and will include land clearing, light bulldozing, ripping and furrowing using appropriate crawler/ wheel type tractors; a maximum of 25 tractor hours of normal land preparation works would be allocated at an estimated cost of Rs80,000/ha inclusive of transport cost and VAT; and selected SME contractors will have to enter into a contract agreement with the MCIA.
Following the increase of price of raw materials for the manufacture of fertilisers on the international market, and the drastic increase of freight cost and exchange rate of USD, Government has increased the provision of grant under the Advance Fertiliser Scheme by Rs 51 million in addition to the fund already earmarked in the Budget 2021/22.
All sugar cane planters with a cultivation of less than 100 ha are eligible for a supply of 250 kg of recommended fertiliser as an advance for the upkeep of their ratoon crops (repousse) as from Monday 08 November 2021.
Therefore, the maximum cost allowable under this scheme is Rs 981 per 25-kg bag of fertiliser suitable for sugar cane as compared to Rs 500 per 25-kg bag which was applicable for Crop 2021. Planters will only refund 50% of the cost of fertilisers from their crop proceeds in 2022 directly from the MSS.
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