A change in the regulations of the Department of Public Lands effectively lowered cattle grazing fees.
The new DPL regulation now allows residents to consider raising their own cattle or livestock for personal use at a lower annual fee, depending on how much land is permitted to use.
Prior to June, the annual grazing fee amounted to at least $1,500, with grazing fees, also called agricultural temporary occupancy agreements, or TOA, costing at least $1,250 per TOA, with an addition of at least $250 or 8 percent of business gross revenue, and limited to 10,000 square meters per household.
Since the adoption of the new DPL regulations earlier this month, the annual grazing fee now costs at least $225 per TOA. The new regulations also bumped up the limit of land per household to a maximum of 50,000 square meters.
With the new regulation, the annual grazing fee for 10,000 square meters would probably cost at least $890, a significantly lower cost compared to the previous rate.
“In April [2017], we notified the people that we were amending our regulations,” said DPL Secretary Marianne Teregeyo.
“We reduced a lot of our fees because our fees were unintentionally increased last year,” she said. “That was not the intent because we are trying to help the farmers and promote sustainable eating.”
Source: Saipan Tribune