Dear Editor,
I visited rice farmers in Regions 2, 5 and 6 over the last couple of weeks. Rice farmers, small and large, are experiencing a torrid time, the livelihoods of their families are in jeopardy, and throughout it all the Ministry of Agriculture and the GRDB are no way in sight. As trouble escalates in the rice industry, as farmers fight to stay afloat, struggle to make ends meet, the GRDB, the Ministry of Agriculture and the caretaker Ministers of Agriculture are lost in “lala” land. The President is comfortably ensconced in State House, the PM avoids farmers like a plague, the other Ministers, including the AFC-designated PM Candidate, behave like all is dandy with rice. This government is so clueless they cannot comprehend rice has been helping them to keep the economy afloat.
Dismissing the challenges and the problems rice farmers face, insisting rice is a private sector activity is dangerous and repulsive. Rice is too important a part of the economy for the government to be at arms-length, too large to fail, employing a large number of people, directly sustaining the livelihoods of almost 60,000, one of the more important foreign currency earners. The truth is, with rice farmers and millers investing easily more than $50B annually in the economy, the rice industry is a public-private partnership. Certain inputs necessary for a successful rice industry are a public good. The fight against the paddy bug and red-rice are not the exclusive role for the farmers; the government has a mandate to be involved, to invest and to lead the fight.
As of right now the paddy bug problem has led to the loss of almost 20% of the rice crop in Region 6 and even worse in Region 2. In Region 5, the red-rice problem is equally devastating to farmers, even as they, too, struggle against paddy bug. For Region 6 alone, this loss translates into 500,000 bags of paddy, equating to the loss of $1.4B in revenue for farmers. In Region 2, the farmers have lost more than 500,000 bags of paddy because of the paddy bug. In Region 5, they have lost more than 600,000 bags of paddy with the combined onslaught from the paddy bug and red rice. Overall, Guyanese rice farmers will lose about $9B this year, having already lost more than $8B in 2018. Most of these are poor farmers and it is unconscionable that the GRDB and the Ministry of Agriculture are largely missing in action.
The paddy bug and red rice problems are not the only obstacles rice farmers face. Farmers in all rice-producing regions face alternating struggles with floods and dry conditions, with clogged canals, pumps not working, etc. Neither, the NDIA nor the Ministry of Agriculture has provided any support as farmers try to desperately battle against flooding and try to irrigate their fields. These are times when the government must be not just an active partner, these are times when the government must carry out its mandate, providing public-good services.
Even as they fail the farmers, even as they refuse to carry out their mandated functions in the rice industry, they have gone out of their way to make life more difficult for rice farmers. Land lease rates were increased. In the MMA, lease rates have increased from $1,000 per acre to $7,000 per acre. This unconscionable increase is even steeper in Black Bush Polder. At the same time, Drainage and Irrigation fees have increased across the country. Supplies such as pesticides have increased in cost and subsidies for equipment in the rice industry have been removed. When farmers protest the unconscionable rate increases, the Minister of Agriculture rebuked them for objecting to a “measly one beer per day” increase.
In spite of the grave difficulties farmers face, they tightened their belts and have kept production high, without which the economy would have tanked further. In 2014, Guyana produced more than 637,000 tons of rice. In the first crop of 2015, production reached almost 400,000 tons, far ahead of the pace to meet the 2015 target of 700,000 tons. But Guyana failed to reach the 2015 target because of a significant drop in production for the second 2015 crop, reaching only 697,000 tons. Guyana failed again in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and now Guyana will fall far short of the 700,000 target in 2019. But the failure to attain the 700,000 tons target must not detract from the achievement of sustained high production, above 600,000 tons, helping to keep GDP positive. Yet, our Government is ungrateful and irresponsible, failing to keep their commitment, failing to carry out their function. While rice is in trouble, APNU+AFC is fiddling.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
Former Minister of Agriculture
