Mahaicony Rice Limited (MRL) proprietor Jai Beni on Friday confirmed that the company is resuming operations locally.
Beni, after months of absence from the industry, was among millers, exporters and farmers at a meeting with Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud. His sudden reappearance came as a surprise to many given that MRL currently owes more than 300 farmers about US$2 million for rice supplied since the first crop in 2010.
The meeting was called to order by the Agriculture Minister to discuss how the present rainy weather could possibly affect the current crop. Following the meeting, when asked whether MRL was back and would be milling at the end of this crop, Beni told Stabroek News that the company would be resuming operations again.
“Yes we are…you’ll have to contact the Agriculture Minister for further comments,” was all Beni would tell this newspaper.
The Agriculture Minister noted during the meeting that the industry will be seeing the return of one of its major players, Beni, who will be allowed to resume milling operations.
Persaud has since been unavailable to comment further on the reappearance of MRL and about what measures are being taken to ensure that farmers are paid what they are owed. Efforts made to contact the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) General Manager Jagnarine Singh and Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj were also futile.
However, this newspaper was told by a source within the GRDB that the rice board, GRPA and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) are in the process of ensuring that MRL fulfills its obligation to the farmers.
The MoA, according to the source, is currently in discussions with Beni to determine the final details of how MRL will pay farmers and to ensure that they will be compliant with the Rice Factories Act in the future.
Almost a year ago farmers countrywide took their paddy to MRL and they continue to wait in vain for the company to pay them. In early October last year there were reports that MRL was winding down its operations locally. At that time MRL had reduced staff and halted operations at its Black Bush Polder (BBP), Blairmont and Vilvoorden offices causing alarm among farmers countrywide.
In an advertisement published during the same month in this newspaper MRL announced that it would commence buying paddy for the current crop at the following six locations: Vilvoorden and Paradise in Region Two; Mahaicony and Cane Grove in Region Five and BBP and Number 70 Village in Region Six.
This, MRL had said in the advertisement, is in keeping with an arrangement it made with the GRDB that the company would supply paddy for sale to Venezuela; that all proceeds from these sales with the GRDB’s assistance will be paid to farmers directly through a special account; and that weekly payments will be made to farmers to settle all the outstanding debts.
The GRDB has never provided feedback on how much of MRL’s debt they were able to clear from the funds in this special account. Since early November to the beginning of this month MRL was completely absent from the industry leaving farmers at a loss about how or if ever they would be paid.
In January MRL accountant Ishwas Singh was charged in absentia after he failed to hand over documents to GRDB auditors last year end and police said an arrest warrant was issued for him. It is unclear whether Singh ever made an appearance in court.
