Prominent rice farmer and miller Beni Sankar is of the view that had the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) carefully monitored the stocks for consumption, rice prices would not have escalated to over $6,000 per bag – a rise of over 100 per cent in a year.
At the most, he said, the price of the commodity should have increased by about 25 per cent. Rice cost $2,800 per bag (about $280 per gallon) at the beginning of 2007 and is now over $6,000 (about $600 a gallon). He said that the price should have only increased to around $400 per gallon even with all the external factors taken into consideration – high price of fuel and the rising price of rice on the international market.
Speaking to this newspaper after reading an article on the same subject in Thursday’s edition of Stabroek News, Sankar said that although there was low production because of the weather, the volume of the product available on the local market was not properly handled.
“Price is determined by supply and demand. Why would the price go up if [the commodity] is in good supply? Is it a case of hoarding? I don’t think so,” he said. Sankar, of Kayman Sankar and Company Limited, added that he didn’t believe millers would keep stockpiles of paddy at a time like this when the next crop is just a few weeks away – end of February/early March.
“The GRDB with its records should have seen the numbers and not allowed the situation to arise,” he said. He added that consumers now have to pay two times the price of what was paid for the produce.
General Manager of the GRDB Jagnarine Singh had said on Tuesday that the price of rice should drop in the next two months or so when the first crop is ready to be harvested.
Singh said the increase in demand, a decrease in production and increase of the price of the commodity on the international market contributed to the escalation of the price locally.
He said Guyana exports about three quarters of the rice it grows and the export price normally sets the trend for the local price. Singh told this newspaper that the GRDB was monitoring exports and knew at anytime the amount of rice leaving here and what was left for local consumption.
Sankar said this was a good time for rice farmers since the industry was “on a climb.
“I am happy that the farmers are getting an extra dollar for paddy. The miller, at the end of the day, caters for his cost of production and does well if he does his work properly.”
Unlike the farmer, Sankar explained, the miller is unaffected by the weather which has been a significant factor over recent years owing to climate change. “[Lately] weather patterns have been disastrous and these have contributed to low production last year,” Sankar said, explaining that for farmers in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary and Black Bush Polder regions, lands for planting rice get soggy not only because of the weakening of the dams, but also because of rainfall, and not much can be done.
Efforts over the past few days to reach General Secre-tary of the Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) Dharam-kumar Seeraj for a comment on the rice price proved futile.
Some people told this newspaper how difficult they were finding it to make ends meet with the high prices of not only rice, but also greens and other commodities in the market. The Guyana Consumers’ Association is advising that people budget their spending wisely in the light of the high food prices, and also urges that the government take notice of the plight of the people. (Johann Earle)