Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter captioned “Some rice farmers still waiting for land titles” (07.01.10).
It is somewhat erroneous for the writer to attempt to convey to the public that there exists a problem with land titles being made available to farmers on the Essequibo Coast.
The facts are as follows:
Prior to Government’s establishment of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commis-sion in 2001, there existed a problem with unauthorized occupation and title availability.
Through a massive programme of land tenure regularization from 2002 – 2005, the Commission was able to make a significant impact with land title delivery countrywide.
On the Essequibo coast three hundred and thirty-six (336) titles were issued in 2003, nine hundred and forty-three (943) in 2004, five hundred and twenty-seven (527) in 2005 and two hundred fifty-eight (258) in 2006. That is over 2000 issued in the last four years on the Essequibo coast.
What has happened in several cases is that the land titles were prepared but persons have not come forward to uplift, claiming financial hardship in being able to pay the required fees/arrears.
The Commission responded by spreading the payments over three (3) years in an instalment plan, and several farmers responded to this initiative. We further dropped the downpayment and even more farmers responded.
In mid 2006 when the RDC’s were dissolved, new applications were put on hold, since we usually require a recommendation from the Region.
Now that the RDC and its sub-committees are in place, the applications will move apace once again.
Further, over the last few months, we have been working even more closely with the Ministry of Agriculture in dealing with individual farmers who have particular problems, and we have been fast tracking these.
We will not claim that all farmers have titles or that problems do not exist. But we cannot endorse an assertion that there exists a general problem with farmers in Essequibo being able to get their land titles, as the writer appears to convey.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Bishop
Commissioner of Lands
& Surveys
