Dr. Mohsen Al-Batran, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that the committee received complaints from small farmers after the rent for endowment lands increased, noting that in light of this, the committee held several meetings through its office as well as the committee.
Al-Batran explained, during a meeting of the Senate Agriculture and Irrigation Committee to discuss increasing the rent of endowment lands, that the President ratified in 2020 that the rental value would be 2,500 pounds as a first alternative and then rise until it reaches 10,000 pounds in 2024/2025. The second alternative, which starts from 3,000 pounds and ends at 13,000 pounds, and then in 2025/2026, was left to the market.
Al-Batran pointed out that although the president approved the first plan for the increase, he did not do so, and the Ministry of Endowments implemented an increase that reached 45 thousand pounds as an average rent for endowment lands, an increase of 247%.
He pointed out that by calculating the different agricultural cycles, we find that the strategic crops, the most important of which are wheat and beets, achieve a farmer’s profitability per acre of approximately 8 thousand pounds. There are some other crops whose profitability does not reach 4 thousand pounds per year per acre, explaining that this is not proportional to the increase issued.
The head of Al-Sheikh Agriculture stressed: “We have absolutely no objection to increasing rents, but we ask that there be an objective view of small farmer tenants.”
