Dear Editor,
As a former rice extension officer and farmer of Region Two, it was brought to my attention that some of the young extension officers at the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) are allegedly not visiting the farmers’ fields to determine the bug population and the level of infestation. Farmers claimed that when they visit the office, there are no extension officers at the front desk to receive their complaints and act on them.
In my tenure there were 6 extension officers monitoring the region’s rice industry, 3 from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and 3 from the Rice Producers Association (RPA). In the morning we would report for duty at the branch office and occupy our desks which were located in an open space where the farmers could meet us, discuss their problems and book their seed paddy from the Burma research station. Our duty was to listen to farmers’ complaints, and record them in our diary and the office log book. In the afternoon we would then visit the fields with the farmers and have a first-hand look the problems. We would then advise the farmers on what preventative measure to use.
We would then report the problems to our respective head offices and the research departzment. If we could not solve the problem, a team from the Burma research station would then visit the region. We would go into the affected plots with the rice farmers and walk among the crop to determine the cause; then we would advise the farmers which drugs to use to eradicate the disease. We would continue to do follow-up visits to the fields every now and then and report back to the research division if there was any improvement or deterioration in the plot. Each extension officer was assigned a certain district with thousands of acres to monitor, and he had to compile a monthly report which would then be forwarded to our head office.
The only time the staff would use the GRDB boardroom would be for our monthly meetings or if there were grading courses for millers, which were usually conducted by personnel from the quality control department in Georgetown or the Burma research station. We never used it to hide away from rice farmers. Every week we would have to prepare a worksheet with work done during the week, and then submit that report to our respective organisations; this was our routine activity as extension rice officers.
RPA officers would also visit contracted farmers’ seed plots and visit farm schools in different parts of the region. A weekly meeting would be held with the farmers informing them how to cut costs and improve production. When the crop reached 70 days and started to flower, as well as when it was at the milking stage we would go into the fields in different parts of the region and conduct a bug sweep with a net. We would record the amount of bugs caught inside the net and then do a calculation and estimate the bug population in the region. The farmers were then advised how much drugs and mist spray they should use in their plot.
When the plot was ripe, a round iron instrument would be tossed at random into the field; we would check the plant population and the ripe grains on each stalk to give us an idea if the seed broadcast in the field was too much or too little. The farmers would then be advised how many pounds of seed paddy to use in their fields.
Today extension officers allegedly do not visit the fields. The rice industry is in a serious crisis and needs dedicated officers to guide the farmers. If the industry fails, all Guyana will suffer. Government has been subsidising the millers and farmers to keep the industry afloat and already farmers are indicating that they will not go back to the land if the situation remains where they cannot make a profit. This allegation needs to be investigated by the General Manager of the GRDB. There should be a concerted effort from all stakeholders to halt such a situation.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
