A twenty-year agreement and the obligation to cultivate hundreds of hectares annually. It may then be expected that it was carefully established in advance whether the company entrusted with this responsibility is financially and technically capable of carrying out the project. It is precisely on this point that important questions remain.
Starnieuws reports that Braganza Marketing Group was conditionally granted access to 9,366.72 hectares of land in Para by the Ministry of Landbouw, Veeteelt en Visserij (LVV, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries) on 13 January 2026 for large-scale agriculture.
Under the agreement, at least 10 percent of the area must be cultivated annually. This amounts to approximately 937 hectares per year.
Financial position as a weak point
What Starnieuws highlights from Braganza’s 2022-2031 business plan is striking. In that plan, the final version of which dates from May 2023, the company’s own financial position and cash flow are cited as weak points.
At that point, clarity was still needed on, among other things, revenue, external bank financing, investors, subsidies and possible government support. The financing strategy was based on the shareholders’ own resources and bank financing.
The business plan dates from 2023. The agreement with LVV was concluded almost three years later. It is therefore quite possible that Braganza’s financial position improved in the intervening period.
But then we want to know what changed during that period.
Which financial documents did LVV assess before signing? Had bank financing been secured by then? Had investors been brought in? How much equity was available? Were bank guarantees or other financial securities submitted?
According to Starnieuws, the available documents do not show which financial guarantees Braganza presented to LVV in January 2026. Nor would it be clear whether the ministry had established in advance that the company had sufficient capital to meet its cultivation obligation.
That is no minor detail.
Ambition requires substantial investment
According to Starnieuws, the business plan envisaged a far greater ambition: after the first year, 5,000 hectares were to be in production, and 10,000 hectares after five years. Braganza intended to produce, among other things, soybeans and maize.
This requires substantial investment in preparing the land, machinery, infrastructure, storage, processing and transport. In its own plan, the company also stated that not all the necessary infrastructure and production resources are available in Suriname.
Involvement of Mennonite agricultural groups
Added to this is the discussion concerning the Mennonites. LVV Minister Mike Noersalim has stated that the ministry has not concluded a separate agreement with Mennonites. The agreement was entered into with Braganza and concerns the production of, among other things, soybeans and maize.
At the same time, the government has confirmed that Mennonite agricultural groups have been facilitated by Braganza.
This is precisely why transparency is important.
We are not talking here about a few hectares, but about 9,366.72 hectares for a period of twenty years.
Transparency on assessment necessary
In the interest of good governance, we therefore want to know what financial, technical and legal assessment was carried out before the agreement was signed. Was an assessment carried out at all?
If Braganza became financially stronger between 2023 and 2026, then show the basis on which LVV reached that conclusion. If bank guarantees, financing agreements or other securities were submitted, the ministry can provide clarity on this.
When the State makes thousands of hectares available for such a long period, it must not only be clear what a company intends to do. There must also be sufficient certainty that the company can deliver on what it promises.
