Amid growing pressure on the government to find new markets and to ensure reasonable prices to growers, scores of rice farmers from across Guyana yesterday sounded a call for promises made by APNU+AFC to them to be fulfilled.
This farmers made the call during protest action around 10.30 am which saw them marching in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, then in front of the Ministry of the Presidency.
Men and women held their placards high as they moved in line back and forth calling for the minister to come out and listen to them.
However, after repeated calls went unanswered, the band of protesters packed up their placards and regrouped to discuss similar steps they will take in the near future.
With reaping of the second crop underway, farmers are tussling with millers to be paid outstanding sums from the previous crop and to negotiate a price for this crop that would give them a fair return. The farmers and millers also face severe market uncertainties as the lucrative Venezuelan oil barter market will no longer be available from November.
Leading the band of protesters was General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj who proclaimed that the rice industry is in a tremendous crisis which will worsen if important issues are not urgently addressed by the authorities.
According to Seeraj, urgent talks are needed to address the issues farmers are grappling with. Some of those include payments; many of the farmers have not received payment since the last crop.
The lack of markets may result in a lower production of rice for the coming year, Seeraj said, adding that 2016 might be another record-breaking year, but instead of the highest, it will be remembered as the year of the lowest production.
The current price being paid to the farmers represents a remarkable loss as the cost of production is beyond the returns the farmers would have achieved from the sale of their produce, Seeraj said.
West Coast Berbice farmer Ramlall Seelochan who was amongst the protesters, lamented that the low price being offered for paddy was sending farmers into a state of bankruptcy.
“The millers at Berbice paying $1,800 a bag,” Seelochan said. “With that nobody can’t go back in their field.”
Listing the cost of fertilizer, seed paddy, labour and fuel, Seelochan said the current price being offered to farmers cannot cover those expenses. He pointed out too that many depend on farming for their livelihood, as a result their families and children are also affected.
The farmer further contended that farmers have no representation on the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). None of the persons nominated by the farmers to be representatives on the GRDB were selected, the farmer said. “This is discrimination… and I am protesting against it.”
Chatelall Ramraj from the West Bank Demerara, was also protesting. “The whole rice industry is in shambles right now and the farmers are left to solve their problems by themselves…the dams and drainage and irrigation system…everything is in a bad state of affairs right now,” Ramraj stated.
Ramraj said he is also a miller and one of the largest producers of paddy on the West Demerara. He feels that he is being discriminated against and treated unjustly by the authorities. The farmer said that although field schools were being held, he was never invited to any of the sessions.
Latchman ‘Gandhi’ Dwarka said he is a small scale rice farmer from the island of Leguan in the Essequibo River.
Dwarka said he joined the protest action out of concern for the situation the rice industry is currently in.
Narmela Singh travelled all the way from Charity, Essequibo to be a part of the protest. Singh also complained of the devastating effect the low price of paddy has been having on her livelihood as a farmer.
Meanwhile, Seeraj said the government has been breaking the law and though he has raised concerns in writing to the authorities, there was no response. “The GRDB Act clearly states that amongst the board of directors there must be three representatives from the RPA… I wrote the Minister of Agriculture and there was no response… no appointment made,” Seeraj stated.
Seeraj added that Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder was fully aware of the situation, but opined that the issue was at a higher level than that of the minister.
Holder had previously told Stabroek News that RPA members Leekha Rambrich and Ricky Roopchand were chosen to sit on the GRDB. However, the RPA said that while Rambrich and Roopchand were members, it had not nominated them as directors on the GRDB.
“Already we have seen the rice industry start going down… Access roads are not being repaired. Farmers don’t know when they harvest the paddy where it is going to go. Millers are saying that we don’t know what price we are going to pay,” Seeraj stated. He added that often farmers are promised one price but later have to settle for a far lower price. “If farmers are not given at least $3,000 to $3,500 per bag of paddy it will not be worthwhile to farm,” he said.
According to Seeraj, the statement made by President David Granger that “rice is not in crisis,” was not accurate, although the president admitted that Guyana has lost the Venezuela market.
“The Venezuela market in terms of a monetary value represents over 70% of export earnings and … in terms of volume… the amount of rice represents about 40% of total export,” Seeraj said, adding that such a loss meant that rice was definitely in crisis.
To add insult to injury, Seeraj said, the government has turned a blind eye to the oldest and largest rice farmers’ organization in the Caribbean.
A similar protest action was held in Essequibo and so far no one from the government has responded, Seeraj said.
More protest actions are being organized which will see “drastic action” in the city, one farmer said.
