Weather jitters, labour shortage threaten Regions Two, Six rice and other crops … but local supplies assured

Uncultivated rice fields

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.