Improving sustainable crop production for export helps expand the export base mainly focused on canned tuna and services, sustainably exploiting the abundant natural resources to their full potential (21).

The economy into a critical sector, providing for food security, promoting agricultural production to pre-pandemic levels, allowing it to shift back to high-value crops and will invite farmers to develop the 60% of agricultural land which is currently under-utilized (22).

If sustainable crop production is not managed carefully, it may lead to crop failure, deforestation and damage to the land ecosystem (34).

If sustainable crop production for export is not managed carefully, it may hinder trade balance and economic development.

Cash crop production causes competition in natural resources with staple crops, increasing food prices and affecting lower-income households (34).

Farmers may not have access to adequate extension services and enjoy insufficient access to credit, which may limit the uptake of the high-value crops and hence hinder the expected impact (19).

If most farm employees are expatriates, the IOA may not achieve the intended impact of engaging local communities in agricultural activities.

If the production of high-value and drought-tolerant crops is hindered by climatic factors or poor farming practices, profitability levels may be too low to achieve the expected impact.

The effects of external shocks such as war and the pandemic and overall global instability can cause price spikes on main agricultural assets, thus prohibiting the expected impact.

Enhance regional integration with sustainable industrial capacity and growing export volumes, amplify income-generating activities for farmers, and mitigate current account deficit.

Seychelles Agricultural Agency Strategy 2020: Facilitates the implementation of the Seychelles National Agricultural Investment Plan and provides a strategic framework and a roadmap of key investment areas, including developing priority crops and value chains (13).

Agriculture Comprehensive Plan, 2019: Outlines concrete and tangible actions developed to revive the sector to ensure food and nutrition security, identifies core local crops and products for local production, and aims to create a policy for assessing the sector's productivity (26).

National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (NFNSP), 2013: Developed to strengthen the county’s capacity to deliver on its food and nutrition security objectives that ensure efficiency and sustainability in resource use and resilience in the face of internal and external shocks (6).

Seychelles National Agricultural Investment Plan (SNAIP), 2015-2020: Defines agricultural priorities, goals and outcomes to provide desired volumes of food production, identifies food security and nutrition as well as productivity and diversification of crops as cross-cutting issues (3).

Financial incentives: The Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) offers loans amounting between SR25,000 and SR5 million per project at a 2.5-5% interest rate to registered farmers for the construction of farm buildings, upgrading equipment, setting up agri-tech systems and others (30).

Fiscal incentives: Import tax exemption includes Value Added Tax refunds on locally purchased goods for registered farms and supporting activities, and customs duty is exempted on goods imported as capital equipment, protective and safety equipment. Accelerated depreciation rates are allowed for registered entities (31).

Other incentives: Special Deductions on Taxable Income on Marketing and Promotion is a deduction of the expenditure incurred for marketing and promotion to 5% of the taxable income or the actual expenditure incurred, whichever is lower.

Acquisition of Land in the Public Interest Act, 1996: Provides for land acquisition in the public interest and related matters such as claims to compensation, examination of land and the taking possession of land, registration of interest in land and withdrawal from the acquisition (23, 27).

Seychelles Agricultural Agency Act, 2009: Establishes the Agency to facilitate the modernization and development of the agricultural sector. In 2021, the act was repealed by the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) Repeal Act, transferring SAA's functions to the department of agriculture (28).

Environment Protection Act, 2016: Serves to ensure that all development and activities, including agriculture, are subject to environmental controls and provides for the protection, improvement and preservation of the environment to facilitate the implementation of international commitments (29).

S.I. 76. - Seychelles Investment (Economic Activities) Regulations, 2022: lists activities a non-Seychellois may invest in and activities a non-Seychellois may invest jointly with Seychellois, requires conducting an Economic Needs Test (ENT) (37).

Chaka Brothers, Bristol Enterprises Limited, Geffroy's Farm, L'Union Estate, Island Scent.

Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Seychelles Investment Board, Seychells Bureau of Standards.

AfDB, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), EU, FAO, IFAD, Global Environmental Facility (GEF), UNDP, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Agricultural Producers Association of Seychelles, Seychelles Farmers’ Association, Anse Boileau Farmers’ Association, Val D’Andorre Farmers’ Association and Local Food Producers Association.

State-owned Island Development Company (IDC) is planning the development of sustainable agriculture on Coetivy island, encouraging local farmers to produce specific crops, chicken and prawns.