– blames ‘governance deficiencies’ for crisis
Government interventions like last month’s infusion of $258 million into the country’s rice industry to stave off the El Nino-related threat to an estimated $600 million worth of rice under cultivation are unlikely to avert losses to the industry that could amount to a significant portion of the total current rice crop, according to a Region Three rice farmer and one-time PPP activist.
Jinnah Rahman who told Stabroek Business that his family has, over the years, cultivated more than 100 acres in the rice-producing area of Le Destin, 21 miles from Parika, said that the severity of the drought afflicting the country’s agricultural sector could devastate the current rice crop and is likely to have a similar impact on rice cultivation in the immediate future.
Rahman, who blames a lack of planning on the part of government for what he says is “a crisis that could have implications for food security” says that despite the current “belated interventions” the industry could well lose upwards of 100,000 tonnes of rice from the current crop as a result of the unrelenting spell of dry weather. “If you visit Region Three you will find that all of the canals are dry, unlike in Suriname, for example, where the conservancies were swamped in anticipation of the current period of drought, ours are empty. What this has meant as far as rice cultivation is concerned is that the costs associated with the use of pumps to get whatever water is available to the rice fields has significantly increased the cost of production.”
Rahman told Stabroek Business that he estimates that the cost of paddy production could jump to as high as $3,500 per bag. Millers, Rahman said, are unlikely to pay more than $3,500 per bag for paddy.
Rahman said that the losses to individual farmers and to the country as a whole were likely to run into hundreds of millions of dollars. “Apart from the losses associated with the current crop this could mean bankruptcy for some farmers. Many will be unable to re-cultivate in the short term,” Rahman told Stabroek Business.
The former political activist who blames “politics” for what he says is “the crisis in which the rice industry finds itself” believes that small farmers, particularly “those who cultivate up to around 50 acres of rice” are likely to be significantly affected by the current situation in the industry. “Those farmers who cultivate acreage of up to 50 acres can be considered small farmers while those with between 50 and a few hundred acres can be regarded as medium-scale farmers. The larger farmers, with thousands of acres under cultivation will also suffer losses but are better positioned to cushion the effects of those losses, Rahman said.
Just over a month ago President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that government would be spending $258 million to respond to the difficulties in the agricultural sector resulting from the weather phenomenon, El Nino. Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud subsequently disclosed at a media briefing that affected rice farmers could benefit from a waiver on the payment of rates and taxes and drainage and irrigation fees.
However, Jinnah told Stabroek Business that the weather related crisis extends beyond the rice industry and presents a challenge for the agricultural sector as a whole. “If you look at the cattle industry in some parts of the country you will find that cattle are dying. Apart from that, farmers are now forced to move their cattle from the accustomed feeding places to new areas where they can get food and water. In some cases, because of the sustained dry spell, they are fast running out of options.”
Government, according to the Agriculture Ministry, is incurring costs of up to $3.5 million per day for fuel and lubricants for 20 irrigation pumps and 27 excavators working to provide farmlands with water while resources from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) have also had to be pressed into service to save other agricultural crops under threat.
Despite the measures undertaken by government to respond to the emergency in the rice industry and in the wider agricultural sector Rahman insists that the administration must take much of the responsibility for the state in which the rice sector finds itself “in the first place.” The problem, he says, has to do with “a governance deficiency.”
Alluding to the period of prayer for rain by Muslims across the country earlier this week, Rahman told Stabroek Business that such a development only demonstrated the fact that the government had failed to take the right governance-related steps “and to apply science and technology” to measures to avert the current crisis. “The current weather pattern had been predicted and there are examples of other countries, including Suriname, to some extent, that at least took some measures ahead of the current period. What we are seeing here in Guyana is the consequence of poor planning.
And according to Rahman the protection of the rice industry from the vagaries of bad weather and “price difficulties” has to be dealt with by “governance and legislative means.” Rahman said that rather than persist with the application of what he described as “piecemeal” solutions to problems in the rice sector “as those problems arise” government must move to enact “strong and effective legislation” that includes “a stabilization fund for the rice sector which he said would serve to protect a commodity that was vital to both domestic food security and to export earnings.
Rahman said that what was needed for the rice sector was legislation similar to the January 1974 Cane Farmers Special Fund Act under which he said a “rice farmers price stabilization fund” should be set up to respond to the vagaries associated with the sector. Under the 1974 Cane Farmers Special Fund Act the Minister of Agriculture must give assent to the purposes to which the funds can be applied and determine “the basis and the conditions on which disbursements from the funds shall be allowed and authorized” as well as the procedures governing such disbursements. Rahman said that similar legislation was necessary for the rice sector given its importance to the country’s economy. “We will also need to ensure that there are accountability mechanisms associated with the administration of such a fund,” Rahman added.
Since last year, government has held scores of meetings with rice farmers to address the threat posed by the current prolonged dry spell. Last month, the Agriculture Minister disclosed that up to 8,000 acres of rice faced potential damage though a reported 90,000 tonnes left over from the previous crop could stave off a feared shortage on the local market. The Agriculture Minister has conceded that the scale of the crisis had rendered the President’s $258 million insufficient though earlier sums totalling more than $350 million had already been spent to support farmers and to pursue emergency drainage and irrigation works.
A Ministry of Agriculture source has told this newspaper that losses in the rice industry resulting from current weather patterns was likely to be “heavy” though the source added that the alleviation measures being implemented were likely to reduce those losses to lower levels than what they otherwise would have been.
