The Berbice-based Nand Persaud & Company, the country’s leading private sector rice exporter is optimistic about the future of the country’s rice industry, notwithstanding the fact that the sector still needs to work towards the further consolidation of the gains that it has secured in order to further enhance its global competitiveness.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Mahendra Persaud told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that the company had recently reached agreements with two Brazilian entities under which they will buy as much rice as the company can supply.
With the company already heavily committed in terms of both local and export markets, Persaud disclosed that it had already begun to explore ways of increasing rice cultivation in the Berbice area in order to respond to increasing demand.
In this regard the Berbice businessman shared with the Stabroek Business, an initiative the company is spearheading, which includes a group of Berbice rice farmers working to bring a further six hundred acres of land under rice cultivation for the first time ever, commencing with the forthcoming crop in November.
Under the agreement, Nand Persaud & Company has agreed to work with twelve Berbice farmers to clear vegetation and undertake other development work on lands in the Cocorite Savannah, Black Bush, and Port Mourant Scheme, preparatory to cultivating rice there. Persaud disclosed that some of the lands are owned by the twelve farmers and that under the agreement, Nand Persaud & Company will provide equipment for the clearing of the lands in addition to which it will provide machinery, spare parts, fertilizer and other materials necessary to pursue the rice cultivation process. The support which the company will be providing will be extended in the form of a loan to the farmers which will be repaid over a period of three (3) years or six (6) crops.
Persaud explained that some of the lands which are being prepared for rice cultivation are located in what he described as “high risk areas,” meaning that the infrastructure, including water and proper drainage and irrigation are ‘limited or nonexistent at this time.” Some of the areas that will be earmarked for rice cultivation were identified by farmers while some lands were identified by the company.
Persaud noted that whilst some of these ‘new’ lands were likely to be “high risk” in terms of yield “for the first two crops” the farmers are willing to invest in the longer term profitability of lands that belong to them. Some of the farmers, he pointed out, had been paying rents for the lands they cultivate for the entire duration of their working lives. He added that around two hundred acres of the ‘new’ lands are likely to be placed under rice cultivation next month and was optimistic that with efficient soil management and efficient drainage and irrigation, the yield is likely to improve steadily.
