Feeling the squeeze from low paddy prices, farmers in Leguan have started scaling back their cultivation.
Veteran rice farmer Mohammed Ramzan, who has been involved the industry for more than six decades, told Stabroek News that because of the current state of the industry, he has scaled down his operation by more than 20 acres within the last three crops. “Rice is done with. It can’t pay. Me had 63 acres but me can’t plant it all because it can’t pay. I had to leave back 20 acres,” Ramzan explained.
Ramzan along with several rice farmers spoke with this newspaper at this residence on Tuesday, when they discussed the current problems facing the industry, which they have dubbed burdensome.
“Rice is hard in Leguan here and we don’t know what’s happening but it’s not making a profit anymore. It doesn’t make sense to any of us to be throwing all of our investments into rice when we aren’t making anything at all from it. People only still doing it because we have been for a very long time and we have the equipment,” one of the men explained.
The farmers highlighted that the main reason behind farmers giving up the crop is the price they are currently receiving per bag of paddy. They say it is not feasible and only results in them making a loss every time they plant an acre of rice.
Ramzan explained that it costs roughly more than $50,000 to prepare an acre of land, including the cost to plant the rice, but they only earn about $40,000 on their investment, which is a loss.
“So there you have it. On every acre you are going to get at least 20 bags of paddy and the millers are offering us around $1,800 to $2,100 per bag. So, let’s say we use $2,000 per bag, then you’re only going to get about $40,000 for that one acre that you spent more than $50,000 on,” Ramzan said.
He said he has been farming rice all his life but has never seen the industry in such a state where it has become almost impossible to sustain itself.
For that, he said he blames the millers, who often hold the farmers hostage with the constant low prices that they offer for a bag of paddy. “The millers are taking advantage of the farmers and are giving very low prices and nobody is doing anything about it,” he said.
Another farmer explained that a lot of people are “running from rice” and that since 2013 he has not been paid by some of the millers. “The millers are knocking you hard. First, they barely giving you money per bag and then they taking long to pay you. Everything else you have to get you does got to pay upfront but we farmers are always the last ones that does get pay. How we suppose to sustain ourselves then?” he questioned.
In addition to the millers offering the farmers very low prices for the paddy, they also pointed out that there is a drainage issue with most of the farmlands.
The farmers pointed out that most times it is difficult to get water onto their lands, which stifles their production and drastically reduces the amount of rice they can reap.
One explained that while he is currently planting approximately 20 acres and would normally reap 500 bags, he was only able to get about 200 bags from the last two crops.
Ramzan also explained that because of the drainage issues, he bought a pump for $700,000 to assist with getting the water on his land. “Even the pump ain’t doing anything with the amount of water that deh in the canals, so that’s another issue that affecting the production,” Ramzan said.
He added that he would never advise any newcomer in the industry to make any investments as he does not see himself still planting rice in five years if the current status quo remains.
“As I said, rice is hard on Leguan. I predict people stopping but we, the veterans, have the land and machine and we can’t just leave them down there. We try every crop and hope that the millers gonna pay us more but it never happens.
They does promise we one thing before the crop and they mouth does change fast when it comes time to pay,” Ramzan said.
He said the millers need to offer at least $3,000 per bag of paddy for the farmers to be able to sustain themselves and continue making more investments in the “dying” industry.
