Guyanese and Surinamese rice millers have decided to jointly advocate on common issues affecting the industry in both countries and plan to lobby for increased access to the Colombia market while warning that only about 60% of the normal crop would be harvested this year as a result of the drought.
In a statement, the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association (GREMA) said that the organisation and the Suriname Rice Millers Association met for the first time on February 16th to discuss several issues. “The meeting was intended to bring the two organisations together so that we can work as two sister Caricom countries and more so to address rice issues that commonly affect both countries, in a time when prices of rice are very depressed and hopefully find solutions for them,” the statement said.
It outlined a number of issues that they agreed to take action on including asking the Heads of Government of both countries to initiate discussions with Caricom on the Caricom-Colombia Trade Agreement signed in 1994. “This agreement allows for further negotiations that can result in a reduction of import duties for paddy and rice entering Colombia, from currently 80% to 15% and 20% respectively. Should this agreement be put into effect it will mean both countries can access the Colombian market at a competitive price. GREMA have already contacted our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to initiate the process,” the statement said.
It added that both organisations agreed to share information on Caricom trade, especially Jamaica. “It was pointed out that buyers in Jamaica were taking credit from multiple millers in both countries and are not making payments. We hope that with the sharing of information, we can blacklist those buyers with bad debts. Also we recognize that the Jamaican market is flooded with rice and the prices there are some of the lowest prices for rice in the world,” the statement said.
Also discussed was lowering of the cost of production to enable the survival of the rice industry in both countries. It was pointed out that while Guyana’s yield is approximately 38 bags/acre, Suriname’s yield is about 48 bags/acre, about 25% higher than Guyana. The organisations hope to discuss this matter further.
“We also discussed the current ‘El Nino’ conditions affecting the crops of both our countries and realized that Suriname is similarly affected as Guyana and it is estimated that we would only harvest about 60% of the normal crop,” the statement said while adding that the two groups hope to have a follow up meeting in the coming month.
The drought has been affecting the two countries since last year and is not forecast to end until later this year. In Guyana, rice farmers around the entire country are facing difficulties with the lack of water forcing many farmers to use external pumps to get water on their lands. However, the limited water has resulted in a significant reduction of the acreage of rice lands sown thus production is expected to be lower this year. Further, some farmers have chosen to focus on saving their paddy in the more advanced stage of growth leaving the younger plants to perish.
