Following concerns raised by a number of rice farmers along the Essequibo Coast about severe paddy bug infestations, recently appointed Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha held a meeting yesterday with officials from the Guyana Rice Development Board and instructed that help be provided to the growers.
A release from the Ministry of Agriculture said that the meeting came after Mustapha would have met with various Heads of Departments from the Ministry on Thursday last for a status report on their respective departments. It was during that meeting that the Minister instructed the head of the Rice Board, Nizam Hassan to look into the issue and prepare a detailed report on what is happening and what can be done to assist farmers.