Farmers, pastoralists and fishermen have something to smile about after the government yesterday announced in Parliament huge relief by scrapping over 100 levies from the sector.
Tabling the 2017/18 budget estimates for the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Charles Tizeba told the House that 108 levies, which were for complained about for a long time would be removed on July 1 thus year.
According to Dr Tizeba, in the sector of agriculture alone out of the existing 139 levies, 80 have been scrapped; 23 and five levies currently charged on livestock and fisheries sectors respectively will also be scraped.
The decision, according to the minister, is meant to reduce a heavy burden of numerous taxes that farmers and traders are subjected to, which at the end leads to high prices of products and agricultural inputs.
“It is the government’s plan to ensure all levies and fees that were nuisances to farmers, pastoralists and fishermen are removed and they make the most of their hard labour. Only few levies with a direct connection to the growth of the sectors will be allowed,” said Dr Tizeba.
For fisheries, the government scrapped the Sh200,000 registration fees for small fishermen using under 11 metre-long fishing boats, movement permit (Sh5,000 for 101-1000kg, Sh10,000 for 1001-5000kg, Sh30,000 for 5001-9999kg and Sh50,000 for 10,000kg and above) and sanitary certificate for fisheries products Sh30,000. The minister, however, announced an increase in fee for approval for fish processing factories from Sh100,000 to Sh400,000.
“I want to assure the Parliament that the government will continue scrutinising other remaining levies and fees and see whether they have the legitimacy to continue existing,” promised Dr Tizeba.
2017 AllAfrica