Dear Editor,
Ganga Persaud’s letter (‘Rice farmers are being exploited by the millers’, SN May 27) correctly sums up the frightening state of the rice industry and the total disrespect that is shown to the people who provide this staple diet to all Guyanese.
All rice farmers will know that planting rice is a backbreaking exercise that not many people are willing to undertake, but yet the eaters of this valuable grain show scant respect for the section of the population which feeds them. A time will come if there is no drastic change of attitude towards us, the rice farmers, and the rice industry as a whole, when we may have to import rice from abroad. Why must one section of the population have to make such a great sacrifice at their own peril? It would seem that Guyanese have no respect for us as producers.
Historically, rice farmers and the rice industry have been treated as the property of successive governments.
Space does not allow me to go into great detail, but suffice it to say that the rice farmers have never been in total control of their destiny as private owners of the means of production.
The Rice Marketing Board was controlled by the Jagan-PPP in the 1960s, but with subsidies to rice farmers the rice industry prospered. Under Forbes Burnham, the Rice Marketing Board was led by PNC party hacks, who brought the rice industry to its knees, forcing President Hoyte after the death of Burnham to sell off all the mills and silos to local and foreign companies.
These are the millers who are now further exploiting the rice farmers under the very eyes of a government quango ‒ the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
The Jagdeo-PPP dealt a massive blow to the rice farmers, who had hoped for control and massive improvements with the very lucrative Venezuelan market. The Venezuelan market was secured by this writer, as Secretary of the Guyana-Venezuela Friendship Society, but it ended up with corruption.
The new APNU+AFC government came into office with huge hope and expectations, and a manifesto commitment to re-establish the Agriculture and Industrial Bank (GAIBANK); re-structure the GRDB; establish a stabilisation fund to cushion the fluctuating prices on the world market; and democratize the Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA), which was totally controlled and misused by the PPP.
None of the above has been achieved to date.
Worse was to come with the active involvement of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who promised to replace the Venezuelan rice market with the Mexican market, which has not materialised. As a former GRDB member, I condemned the opportunism of Mr Nagamootoo, among other things, which caused me to be thrown off the rice board.
The AFC prior to the last general elections, demanded that they should be given the Agriculture portfolio as one of the key elements to agree to contest as a coalition.
Rice farmers were assured by the now Prime Minister at the Bush Lot, Essequibo meeting, attended by this writer and many rice farmers that he would include all the rice farmers and activists in an inclusive government to make the industry a viable entity.
The Forensic Audit Report, which took more than a year to complete, has been released to SOCU, the police investigating arm dealing with corruption of all sorts.
Yours faithfully,
M Jinnah Rahman
