Dear Editor,
Since the rice last crop many farmers owe rice-harvester owners thousands of dollars in West Coast Berbice, and they owe the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ ADA) drainage and irrigation charges. They rent small farmers’ lands and these small farmers have to pay the MMA/ADA too for drainage and irrigation charges.
Millers must pay the rice farmers; they are poor people and many are indebted. And many of the rice-harvester owners are poor people as well; after every crop they have to overhaul their machines which costs thousands of dollars, while some have to pay instalments on the machines. So these people depend on the rice farmers. Many rice farmers are not sure if the rice harvester owners will reap their crop since they owe them for one crop already. The rice-harvester owners want $350 and $300 per bag, and the truck owners want $200 to take the paddy to the mills. I want the public to judge given the dropping of the paddy price if rice farmers are not beggars.
The question many people are asking is why they have made public the names of millers in Region Two (Essequibo Coast) who owe the farmers and not the millers of Region Five, which covers the MMA/ADA project; how much money they owe farmers should also be publicised.
Yours faithfully,
Bramdeow Singh
