In view of promoting a Farm to Fork concept in Mauritius for its population, the government envisioned a comprehensive National Agri-Food Development Programme by launching a Centralised Digital Land Bank of State and Private Agricultural Land in the Budget Speech 2020-2021.
This new initiative, a spin-off venture of Landscope (Mauritius) Ltd will ensure food security and reduce the dependency of the country on imports by engaging more unutilised land for cultivation.
The Centralised Digital Land Bank will operate as a platform to match demand and supply for land which will further be used for food production activities in different development phases.
Landscope (Mauritius) Ltd will have a new mandate to acquire more private agricultural lands with the support of the State Investment Corporation (SIC).
Land will be acquired by Landscope (Mauritius) Ltd for the Centralised Digital Land Bank through the following options:
- Lease of uncommitted agricultural state land from the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security for a period of at least 10 years.
- Lease of agricultural land from private owners for a period of at least 10 years.
- Purchase agricultural land from private owners at a price to be mutually agreed upon.
The plots of land available in the Centralised Digital Land Bank will be leased/sub-leased for specific purpose related to food cultivation to planters through an Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) designed specifically for this programme.
The first phase of the Centralised Digital Land Bank has been launched on 2nd February 2021 with 350 arpents of land leased from the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security.
EDMS
The Electronic Data Management System designed for the Centralised Digital Land Bank will display the details of each lot such as plot identification number, status, extent, key characteristics (e.g. soil type, average rainfall, mechanisation, land suitability for specific crops, etc.).
The public will access to the EDMS where they can submit online applications for the lease/sub-lease of the available plots of agricultural land through the system.
The permitted agricultural activities in the sub-lease agreement will be:
- Open field farming
- Sheltered farming
- Plant and Seed production
- Livestock activities*
*In the first phase, livestock activities will not be permitted. The sub-lease period will not exceed ten (10) years since it must be shorter than the lease period.
The rental rate fixed for the sublease of the land within the first phase is Rs 5,000 per year per arpent.
