-Seeraj
General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj says that the Seed Paddy Facility at Lesbeholden, Black Bush Polder is being utilized and is refuting claims by farmers that it is a “white elephant”.
He explained that the $50 million facility, which was officially opened on July 17, 2008, has not been used during the last crop for drying seed paddy because the GRPA was not satisfied with the quality of seed paddy produced by growers.
“We have a system which is being used in regions Two and Three, where we contract growers…we plan to implement this system in Black Bush as well because for this crop the quality of seed paddy provided by growers was not satisfactory, so we did not take them to dry, hence the facility is not being used,” Seeraj explained to Stabroek News during a telephone interview on Thursday.
On Monday, a Guyana Times report said that since the facility was commissioned more than two years ago, it has not been used. Farmers, the article also said, were being forced to dry their paddy under conditions from which the facility should have saved them. An engine which powers the facility, it said, was stolen and works are still being carried out at the location.
However, Seeraj has since refuted these reports. At no time, he insisted, did the Guyana Times attempt to contact him for a comment regarding the issue. “Any responsible journalist,” he said, “would have tried to get the other side of the story.”
In 2008, Seeraj explained, management of the finished facility was handed over to the GRPA and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). The project, according to him, was funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the government.
All the equipment at the facility, Seeraj said, is in place and nothing has been stolen or damaged. Recently, water had gotten into some electrical panels but these were immediately fixed and as far as he knows there is no other electrical or mechanical problem at the location.
Seeraj further noted that the engine, which the Times reported was stolen, is still in its secure place at the Lesbeholden facility. It weighs over three tonnes, he explained, and is secured in an iron grilled enclosure. A crane, according to him, would be needed to move that piece of equipment. “The facility is well secured and we have someone who lives in the compound to take care of the place,” he said.
The mechanical dryer at the facility, Seeraj also said, has not been used since the facility was commissioned. Enough paddy seeds, he explained, have never been available in large enough quantities to utilize the dryer. “Although the mechanical dryer isn’t being used farmers still have access to the facility and they use it to dry their paddy,” he explained.
Last week when Stabroek News visited the Black Bush Polder area, farmers had raised concerns about the facility. They had described it as a “white elephant” and had told this newspaper that since the commissioning they have not reaped the promised advantages. When the facility was commissioned it was expected that farmers would no longer have to travel far distances to access seeds for their crops. Farmers who were present at the commissioning had told this newspaper that they were very pleased with its establishment as it would increase the quality of the seeds.
They believed that they would no longer have to “soak the paddy and wind it out; that was too much work.” More than two years has elapsed since then and many Black Bush Polder farmers say that they are still doing the hard work.