The farmers had initially been made to pay US$2 per hectare per year to Sanyati Rural District Council for their farms averaging about 180 hectares but these were cut to US$1 per hectare per year.
The agreement was reached following several meetings between the council and the farmers. The farmers complained of previous levies being too high and of lack of meaningful development in their area.
Chenjiri farmers mainly complained of poor and unserviced roads. There are more than 100 small scale farms at Chenjiri. A farmer who was initially paying an average of US$370 per year will now be paying US$185 to the local authority.
“I am at least now happy that our levies have been reduced, they were too high for us. There is no meaningful development going on in our area,” said one local farmer.
Post published in: News