-Persaud
By the end of the second crop, rice production is expected to increase by more than 10,000 tonnes for this year, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said.
It is projected that 356,000 tonnes of paddy will be harvested overall for this year—14, 000 tonnes more than the previous year’s yield. There has also been an increase in the acreage cultivated this year. An additional 20, 000 acres were cultivated, Persaud reported. He further noted that this is an indication that farmers and producers have been focused.
It was expected that El Nino conditions experienced earlier this year would have affected the industry’s production ability. However, because of plans implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the projected decline never came.
Even with the ongoing La Nina conditions, Persaud said, the ongoing harvesting has not been affected. Measures put in place by the Agriculture Ministry have avoided any serious delays.
As of Wednesday, he explained, about 14 percent of the current crop had been harvested. Many mills, Persaud reported, have started purchasing paddy and prices are currently competitive on the market. International prices, according to Persaud, have gone up over the last three months.
These points were raised by Persaud yesterday at a meeting with millers. The meeting, he said, is a continuation of a series which have been held at various locations over the last few weeks. Today, Persaud said, he and a team will be visiting West Berbice and then the Essequibo Coast on Monday.
He further urged millers to give farmers a decent price for paddy and to honour the terms of payments to which they have agreed. Currently, farmers are being paid a maximum price of $3,500 per bag of paddy.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj said that during the last months they had been concerned about the price farmers would get for paddy.
However, with recent development in world market prices it appears of though there is no longer a need for that concern.
During the meeting, the Agriculture Minister also noted that a notice was recently placed in the media inviting farmers and millers to supply under the second Venezuelan deal. The deal, which is worth US$38M, will see the shipping of 50, 000 tonnes of paddy and 20,000 tonnes of white rice to that country. Guyana will start supplying next month.
The response to that notice, Persaud said, was overwhelming. More than 80,000 tonnes of paddy and 30,000 tonnes of white rice have been made available by suppliers.
The Guyana Rice Development Board, he explained, is currently working on a system to determine who will supply how much under the deal.
Both Persaud on Seeraj assured that this will in no way affect our ability to supply traditional markets. With the increase in production, Persaud assured, we will have enough produce to supply our buyers.
Seeraj pointed out that about 1.3M of the approximate 4M bags of paddy that are produced every crop is dedicated to the Venezuelan market. Having fixed markets, he said, gives farmers a sense of security.