Claiming that Cabinet has greenlit a contract for $420 million for the procurement of fertiliser, the Rice Producers Association (RPA) is calling for it to be rejected by stakeholders and for the authorities to reverse the decision.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference, RPA General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj condemned the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for being the executing agent in the signing of the contract. “This is in direct contravention of the laws, norms and conventions applicable to the acquisition of farmers’ inputs,” Seeraj said. He added that there was no advertisement or bidding, which is imperative in sourcing of farming supplies. He claimed too that the selected supplier is a popular and publicly-known campaign financier of the APNU/AFC coalition.
Stabroek News rang GRDB head Nizam Hassan to put the allegations to him, but was told that he couldn’t speak, as he was in a meeting. He advised this newspaper to call him back in 30 minutes. Several calls made later over a three-hour period went unanswered as Hassan’s phone rang out.
Seeraj said the RPA had been directly involved in the negotiations for farming supplies for decades but was not notified in this instance.
“In its capacity as the farmers’ mandated representative, the RPA strongly condemns this contravention of the laws, norms and protocols for the acquisition of farmers’ inputs, and the subversion of the GRDB, for corrupting the processes governing the provision of essential goods to the farming community,” Seeraj said. He accused the GRDB of using the farmers’ money to “reward campaign financiers.”
He said the RPA is calling on the GRDB’s directors to reject the subversion of the organisation, which is supposed to represent, support and empower farmers, and to take a strong stance against it. “The previous government always bargained, through combined efforts of the GRDB and RPA, for competitive prices for farming inputs, given all the challenges of the agricultural sector,” he said, before stating that the previous administration would often subsidise the inputs to sustain the sector when it was faced with challenges that threatened its viability.
According to him, government is planning to sell the fertiliser at $5,000 per bag, as compared to the previous price of $4,300 per bag, which he said will only burden the already embattled farmers.
“The planned contractual deal is the perceived reason that the government rejected the RPA representatives on the GRDB board of directors, although it is a stipulation of the GRDB Act,” he said. He called it open disdain by the government for citizens whom were fooled by the pre-elections rhetoric of restoring accountability and transparency.
He went on to highlight that the previous administration had, conversely, in direct response to the global crisis, through the RPA and GRDB, funded the farming community with $400 million grant allocation for the acquisition of fertiliser, the construction of 12 drying facilities in all rice-growing areas, and for technical support. “This was among many other initiatives they implemented to sustain and promote growth of the agriculture sector,” he added. He stated that the RPA is demanding that the government ceases its’ “authoritarian and undemocratic actions” and instead fulfil its pre-election promises to avail every possible assistance to ensure the viability of the rice industry, instead of “pandering to the interests of political cronies.”
