The Agriculture Ministry made a payment of $3.72million from the Committee for Better Utilization of Land programme to the iTaukei Lands Trust Board.
TLTB Board General Manager, Tevita Kuruvakadua, says the board will disburse the funds to individual landowner’s bank accounts.
Over one thousand four hundred iTaukei landowning units whose land are leased out for agricultural purposes will receive this payment.
These includes 733 landowning units in the Western Division, 347 in the Northern Division and 395 in the Central/Eastern Divisions.
Kuruvakadua says these funds were deposited in the individual bank accounts of landowners by midday yesterday.
The CBUL was an initiative set up by the Government in 2010 to assist farmers in agricultural areas especially sugarcane farmers whose land leases had expired while at the same time provides incentives for landowners to allow for leasing of their land which is lying idle.
A total of $50.5m has been paid as rent subsidy by the Government since the start of the initiative in 2010 which has been paid out in full to landowners as TLTB does not charge any poundage.
