The Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ADA) has said that it is owed over $1 billion in fees by some farmers, who nonetheless continue to benefit from its services to them, including drainage works.
“Farmers have not been paying MMA, they have not. Now, there was a period of time when we were doing all of these works and we were not receiving any money, but the Ministry of Finance has made it clear to us, that we have to collect the money owed from the farmers to carry out the necessary maintenance work,” General Manager of MMA/ADA Aubrey Charles was quoted as saying in a Department of Public Information (DPI) report yesterday.
“If we are supposed to collect $100 [million] to cover the cost of maintenance, and we only collect $60 [million], it means we can only do 60% of the works. It’s simple, we can only do 60%; the 40% has to come from the farmers who are not paying,” Charles stressed.