Essequibo rice farmers are frustrated that the assistance being doled out by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) while good-intentioned is doing very little to actually combat paddy bugs.
Chairman of the Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association (EPFA) Naitchram (only name given) told Stabroek News that recently the GRDB, under the Agriculture Ministry, invested $25 million to address the paddy bug infestation in regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six.
However, Stabroek News was told that the investment was subdivided into such small amounts of ‘Pronto’- the chemical used to