In a key address during parliamentary budget deliberations in Suriname’s National Assembly, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Mike Noersalim has formally confirmed the cancellation of the long-debated planned land partitioning of the former FAI Foundation’s property, bringing long-awaited clarity to a controversial land use issue that has drawn public attention in recent months.
Noersalim stressed that the current administration’s policy on agricultural land is unambiguous: all land zoned for agricultural use must remain dedicated exclusively to agricultural purposes. He made clear that his ministry will not approve or participate in any plan to subdivide existing agricultural land for residential development or any other non-agricultural uses, drawing a clear line to protect Suriname’s critical agricultural resources.
The minister also referenced that President Chan Santokhi has previously ordered a comprehensive review of all existing agricultural land holdings across the country, a review being carried out in close collaboration between Noersalim’s ministry and the Ministry of Land Policy and Forest Management.
Expanding on the government’s broader land use strategy, Noersalim emphasized that Suriname’s development priority must focus on improving productivity on existing agricultural lands rather than clearing undisturbed primary forest for new development, aligning the country’s agricultural policy with global conservation commitments. He also outright denied circulating rumors of a secret land cooperation agreement between the government and a Mennonite community, stating that no such deal — either direct or indirect — has ever been finalized.
Turning to the specific situation of the former FAI Foundation, Noersalim explained that a restructuring and diversification process for the entity was launched years ago in response to the foundation’s severe debt crisis. The organization currently carries a total debt burden exceeding $20 million, according to government data. Instead of moving forward with partitioning the land for non-agricultural use, the administration is now exploring alternative agricultural development models for the property, including shifting cultivation to high-value commercial crops such as cacao and passion fruit, and developing local agricultural product processing infrastructure.
In closing, Noersalim framed the policy shift as part of a broader overhaul of Suriname’s agricultural sector. He noted that the country’s agricultural strategy can no longer focus solely on exporting raw commodities; instead, Suriname aims to build a complete domestic agricultural value chain that includes local processing and value addition before export, to create more jobs and capture greater economic benefit from the country’s natural resources.