Former president Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday told rice farmers from along the Essequibo Coast that government had a huge difficulty with finding ready markets for the large volume of rice currently being produced
Speaking to rice and cash crop farmers yesterday in the compound of State House at Anna Regina, Jagdeo, in his capacity as Chairman of the Government’s recently announced National Economic Council, confirmed what was widely known, but which government officials had stopped short of saying in the past.
While rice production has been booming since the introduction of the PetroCaribe barter agreement with Venezuela under which farmers had been guaranteed a market for their rice, this has not worked to their advantage. Over the years, farmers have faced fluctuating and often lower prices for their paddy from millers, along with protracted payment periods and sometimes no payments.
Essequibo rice farmers, some of whom formed an association have staged numerous protests to bring their plight to the attention of the authorities. Meetings have been held with Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy and other officials. And while some measures were put in place, the farmers still face constraints.
Calls by the farmers for a meeting with the President have gone unanswered. Yesterday, Jagdeo said he was aware that rice farmers had two issues. “The first has to do with the rapid growth in the volume of rice produced in the country which is over 600,000 tonnes from 100,000 tonnes 20 years ago,” he said. “With the rapid growth of production and productivity the government confronted the issue of remunerated market.
The government has huge problems in getting markets to sell the large volume of rice produced.
“The second problem is the issue of payment and even farmers when they sell their paddy they do not get a (remunerative) price.”
He added, “First of all they are dissatisfied with the prices and secondly even when they do settle with the price, they get difficulty in getting their payments.
These are two biggest issues I have heard a lot about and these are not new issues but they have resurfaced in greater proportion largely because of the large volume of rice produced.’
He said he has also heard “about the bug infestation and the quality of rice produced in this region.” Jagdeo suggested that aerial spraying be done to address the paddy bug infestation and added that the matter will be dealt with immediately.
He then told the farmers that the best system for the rice industry “is a bidding system for quotas of rice. This system will be introduced shortly.
The matter concerning payments will also be looked at urgently along with the grading system. I will see to it that farmers are not ripped off by millers.”
Jagdeo also assured farmers that the government will make more advances available to millers so farmers can be paid promptly after selling their rice crop.
Those, he said, were the factual issues. He also sought to clear up what he said were distortions, and gross misunderstanding regarding the export of rice to Venezuela and the PetroCaribe agreement.
He stated that the Venezuela rice market was initiated while he was president and that it followed a meeting he had held with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at a UN activity somewhere around 2009.
Jagdeo told the gathering that the money the government received as a loan from the PetroCaribe arrangement was in the central bank. “The only money that was used from the loan was US$15 million for construction of the Hope Canal on the East Coast to divert water to the Atlantic Ocean.
That loan that was meant for the Government of Guyana was used to support the rice market and that is how Guyana received high prices for its rice. Farmers need to be educated about the PetroCaribe arrangement,” he stressed. “The PetroCaribe deal has nothing to do with rice.”
One farmer later said that he was misled by people who did not know anything about the PetroCaribe arrange-ment and that he was very thankful for the explanation given by Jagdeo. He said he was also misguided by farmers who didn’t know about the rice contract to Venezuela and that he had even joined in the continued protests against the government at Anna Regina.
The meeting was well attended by rice farmers and supporters of the PPP/C government and several government officials including Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali and Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Ali Baksh.
