President Louis Mussington visited the Agricultural Show in Paris, where he was able to sign an assistance agreement with the National Federation of Land Development and Rural Settlement Companies (FNSafer).
This partnership will make it possible to support the Collectivity of Saint-Martin in its strategy to revive the sustainable agricultural economy. This agreement signed between the Overseas Collectivity of Saint-Martin, represented by its president Louis Mussington, and Muriel Gozal acting as director of the FNSafer, will make it possible to set up technical support, firstly to launch a diagnosis of agricultural land in Saint-Martin, then refine the recovery strategy. The Saint-Martin POS zoning plan indicates that the areas classified as agricultural zone cover 305,85 ha, which represents 5,75% of the area of the French part of the island. The territory of Saint-Martin also has its Territorial Plan for Sustainable Agriculture (PTAD), published by prefectural decree in October 2021. The latter makes it possible to set the priorities for public action in favor of the development of the agricultural sector, in the short and medium term.
Today, the Collectivity of Saint-Martin works through four major areas: encouraging and promoting quality local agriculture, strengthening and facilitating technical, educational and financial support, developing exchanges and innovation, and ensuring access and preservation of natural resources
At present, the administrative situation of Saint-Martin land escapes the normative rigor of the administration. This characteristic particularly encompasses agricultural land and compromises the development of agricultural value chains. As part of the examination of grant applications under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), many applications are rejected due to the lack of free disposal of the land (lack of title). The number of requests for agricultural premiums is also decreasing from year to year, because of the joint ownership of properties, uninsured successions, disputes linked to timeshare, the absence of a deed of ownership and non-compliant leases. The purpose of the agreement is to allow the Collectivity of Saint-Martin to mobilize FNSafer and Safer Guadeloupe, in order to set up a diagnosis of agricultural land in the territory. This diagnosis will then be used within the framework of the Territorial Plan for Sustainable Agriculture of Saint-Martin and the Planning and Development Plan of Saint-Martin (PADSM). It will present the land issues and will be supplemented by an exhaustive overview of the levers of action and the legal and technical possibilities, which could give rise to a multi-year partnership with Safer Guadeloupe. Alongside this agricultural mission, the preservation of the environment is a major issue. The Safers also carry out studies for third parties related not only to land development, but also to the development of agriculture, nature and landscapes.
3,598 total views
No comments