Land lost into river; iTLTB urged to lower land rental

Listen to this article:

Sugarcane farmer Sucha Singh, 76, shows soil erosion on his land at Votua, Ba. Picture: ANISH CHAND

A sugarcane farmer in Votua, Ba is asking the iTaukei Land Trust Board to lower the land rental on his native land, claiming chunks of the land has been lost into the Ba River because of soil erosion.

Sucha Singh, 76, has two pieces of land beside the Ba River.

I had five-and-a-half acres of land here and three quarters of an acre has been lost into the river.

On the second land, it was seven-and-a-half acres and now I only have one and three-quarter left,” he said.

Mr Singh said the soil erosion started in 2009 and claims he had brought this to the attention of TLTB and government ministers.

“I request if the land rent can be lowered due to the erosion. I have been running around since 2009 and nothing has happened so I have given up hope.” Mr Singh pays $800 annually in rental for both pieces of land.

“This erosion won’t stop and the Ba River will continue to eat into my land. My farming is at risk here.”

He said he used to produce 300 tonnes of cane which has now reduced to 170 tonnes.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category