The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday began spraying rice fields in Region Six to address the paddy bug issue, the Department of Public Information (DPI) reported.
The paddy bug infestation has been affecting farmers throughout the region.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, during a community meeting at the Albion Community Ground on Sunday, said that the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) will work collaboratively with the farmers to address the issue.
“Region Six is a very important rice-producing area for us. As a result of that, there were several proposals that the farmers made. But we have looked at the most realistic proposal. That proposal is to help them with the chemicals to spray the areas where the bugs are present,” Mustapha told DPI.
“I am hoping that we can control the bugs so that we can have a full harvest at the end of this crop,” the agriculture minister said.
A paddy bug committee has been set up to effectively monitor the situation in Region Six and a report will be provided daily to the minister.
The report will indicate if further interventions need to be made relating to the insect situation.
On March 24th, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that aerial spraying would commence that week to combat the paddy bug situation in Region Six. It said there had been 11% damage reported at rice mills as opposed to the 20% being claimed by farmers.
Stabroek News had reported on March 24th that rice farmers on the Corentyne were reeling from the paddy bug infestation which had caused an average of 20% losses throughout the region leaving many farmers unsure of how they will return to the fields next crop. Farmers had said that this was one of the largest infestations seen since the 90s.
However, an updated report provided by Mustapha that say said that “current average damage at the mills showed 11%. This had decreased from 17% in the earlier stage of the crop.
The report said that the monitoring commenced on 17th February 2024 with 16 extension officers. “During the course of the monitoring and demonstrations, the farmers were informed of the paddy bug level in their fields and advised to spray fields for control. The reports on the monitoring indicating the paddy bug level are provided on a daily basis to all stakeholders in the region via a WhatsApp group. The fields with high paddy bug levels are followed up with monitoring so as to ensure that the farmers had effective control. Extension officers continue to provide public awareness through the distribution of flyers, WhatsApp messages, Facebook and outreaches with the paddy bug advisory for managing the infestation,” it detailed.
According to the report, to date, a total of 2,221 fields were monitored by the extension officers. “As the monitoring reports from earlier … had indicated, the paddy bugs were above the threshold level (300 paddy bugs per 50 sweeps); the reports currently show that the paddy bug levels have been decreasing (60 bugs in 50 sweeps). This is because of the actions taken by the GRDB and farmers to control the paddy levels in their fields,” the report said.
It appears that the earlier interventions did not succeed and further action has now been deemed necessary.
