A drive from Supenaan to Anna Regina on Tuesday, January 3, provided a glimpse of the customary annual weather-related challenges that the country’s rice industry faces. The rice lands that rolled by as we headed for Anna Regina were either not under cultivation or, the fields were crammed with un-harvested rice. It was the same old story of the unchanging battle between what is Guyana’s most important agricultural crops and the vagaries of weather patterns that continue to waltz to the tune of an ever increasing climate change threat. A poignant reminder of last year’s fierce May /June, un-harvested paddy stood like monuments to the weather patterns that have, historically, been the bane of the rice industry’s existence.
Not for the first time, during the Stabroek Business’ occasional visits to the Essequibo Coast, over the years, we met with Naith Ram, one of those rice farmers who had spent a lifetime in the business and who, this time around, greeted us with the news that what we had seen in the wasted rice fields was an indication, not just that the amount of paddy that becomes available for sale during the March-April period would be reduced considerably, but, as well, that this would ‘add up’ to some tough times ahead not just for the rice farmers but as well as the communities where, on the whole, livelihoods depend heavily on the fortunes of the rice industry. The farmers, particularly, Naith Ram told the Stabroek Business, had become increasingly fretful over the weather interventions that hurt their pockets.
The incessant rains had consequences – like trucks and combines caught fast in the clay of the rice fields with much cost and effort having to be expended in extracting these vital pieces of machinery from their mud-caked tombs and afterwards, having to render them for the next crop. Naitram said that he had become ‘schooled’ in these unmistakable signs that shortfalls in rice production, going forward, were imminent. The March-April harvesting period, he asserted, was unlikely to give cause for raucous celebration. Beyond the weather-related issues that directly impact on the rice industry Naith Ram also informed us that those issues are inextricably linked to the movement of prices in the industry. He noted, for example, that the impact of the weather on the harvesting of the previous crop had meant that the cost of land preparation for the next crop had jumped from $10,000.00 to $18,000.00 per acre. He explained that, usually, three ploughs, two Roam Ploughs and one Back Blade Plough were required for land preparation and that, while rental costs had only recently been between $3,000.00 and $4,000.00 per plough, those costs had now risen to between $5,000.00 and $7,000.00.
According to Naith Ram, the costs associated with the sowing of paddy had jumped from $15, 000 per acre to $25,000 per acre whilst the application of fertilizer has moved from $300 per acre to $500 per acre. To those costs would have to be eventually added harvesting costs which had jumped from $250-280 per bag to $350-$360 per bag. Finally, the cost of transporting the paddy from field to factory had jumped from $80.00 per bag to $140 per bag. In sum, according to Naith Ram, the rains and their overall impact on the rice crop had left many of the farmers in Region Two in a condition of considerable gloominess.
Reasonable
Mahendra Persaud is the General Manager of the Region Six rice ‘giant,’ Nand Persaud and Company, one of the ‘big players’ in the local rice industry. “Reasonable” is as far as he was prepared to go in his assessment of the recent fortunes of the rice sector in Region Six. He appeared to be no less concerned about the fast-emerging challenge of Blast Disease or ‘rotten neck,’ a malady that has long been the bane of the global rice industry.
Saddled with major local, regional and international rice supply commitments, Nand Persaud and Company, last year, managed to acquire around 70% of its targeted paddy purchases. The Company’s General Manager attributed this, in large measure, to a labour shortage, which he said had negatively impacted the spreading of manure and the spraying of rice fields. Most things associated with rice cultivation, crop management and harvesting in the rice industry, are matters of timing.
Meanwhile, the Berbice rice magnate told the Stabroek Business that the sector had also had to deal with complaints from some of the crop sprayers over what they felt might be the health implications of the chemicals being used in the spraying process. Contextually, Persaud told Stabroek Business that while his company had sought the approval of successive political administrations for the aerial spraying of rice fields and had been given the ‘go ahead’, in principle, they are yet to receive the ‘green light’ from the authorities to proceed in that direction. Persaud confirmed that there has indeed been a shortfall in rice production in Region Six recently though he sought to offer assurances that this was unlikely to impact negatively on rice supplies for the local market.
Beyond the rice industry, concerns over a shortage of both skilled and unskilled labour in the Region were echoed by President of the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, Krishnand Jaichand, who told the Stabroek Business that the labour shortage is being felt among business owners who are members of the Chamber which has an overall membership of seventy five businesses. Chamber members, Jaichand told the Stabroek Business, had informed him that a number of workers had been parting with their private sector jobs to pursue the part-time employment options being offered by government.
On April 11 last, the Department of Public Information website had disclosed that government was offering some 3,000 temporary jobs to residents of Region 6 (East Berbice – Corentyne). The jobs, according to the website, would provide employment for three days a week at schools, hospitals and government offices and would offer salaries $40, 000 per month. Seemingly conscious of the likely impact which this option could have on labour availability for the private sector, Jaichand told the Stabroek Business that the jobs now being offered by government should not have a negative impact on labour availability in the private sector. While he asserted that the part-time employment initiative enjoyed the support of the Chamber, he told the Stabroek Business that it was important that the preference, in terms of these jobs, be afforded to individuals who are unemployed.
He said that the Central Corentyne Chamber is currently engaging the Private Sector Commission (PSC)) on the issue of labour shortage in the hope that the body may help find ways in which the conditions can be alleviated.
