Budget 2024-2025
Mauritius’ 2024-2025 budget presents a robust plan to boost food security. It targets farmer empowerment and tackles labor scarcity, high production costs, and climate change impacts.
Farmer Empowerment
The budget aims to enhance agricultural productivity, reducing import dependence. It also plans to increase storage facilities and provide electric fencing to prevent theft, ensuring a secure food supply chain.
Soil Health and Sustainable Farming
The budget proposes soil health assessments to encourage better farming practices. It also offers subsidies for eco-friendly farming, contributing to sustainable agriculture and long-term food security.
Controlled Environment Agriculture
The budget promotes vertical farming through partnerships to overcome land constraints and boost local food production. It also introduces innovative water resource optimization strategies to enhance agricultural efficiency and resilience.
Modernization and Sustainability
The budget provides grants for purchasing container farming facilities and setting up cold storage to extend the shelf life of produce. It also supports small planters with grants for sheltered farms, equipment, and security measures.
Crop Sector Support
The budget offers a 75% subsidy on seeds and a 50% subsidy on fertilizers. It provides annual grants to weather-impacted farmers and zero-rate VAT on seeds, seedling trays, plant pots, agricultural sprayers, and roasted coffee.
Livestock Sector Support
The budget provides grants for shed construction, and livestock purchase, and increases subsidies on private veterinary services and animal feed. It also supports breeders with grants for heifer purchase, livestock import, and a mobile veterinary clinic.
Apiculture Support
The budget provides one-off grants for fencing and subsidies for solar-powered CCTV for beekeepers. It also subsidizes queen bee acquisition to promote beekeeping and ensure sector sustainability.
Fisheries Sector Support
The budget provides grants for outboard motor renewal, increased compensation for net fishers, and duty-free facilities for vehicle acquisition for registered artisanal fishers. It plans to set up modern fish markets, place marker buoys for fishermen, and launch coral and oyster farming initiatives.
Expected Outcome
These measures aim to increase the agricultural sector’s output by around 9%, leading to an expected 1.04% GDP effect in the next financial year. This comprehensive strategy underscores Mauritius’ commitment to a stable, resilient food supply chain, safeguarding its citizens’ food security.
