Dear Editor,

Many rice farmers are buying fertilizer from some of the East Coast mills on credit. These farmers were charged $3,000 per bag during the last crop as interest, and this is something the government should look into. Millers buy fertilizer from big agents in Guyana through credit and do not pay high interest.

About two months ago a truck-man carried a load of paddy to one of these mills; the man knew his truck was carrying 135 bags of paddy, but the miller told him it was only 104 bags. He then took the paddy to another mill which agreed it was 135 bags – a difference of 31 bags.

This is where the rice farmers, the truck-men and the owners of rice harvesters get robbed by some of the millers. The government promises to check the millers’ scales every crop, but I think they forgot what caused the Corentyne rice farmers to cross the Berbice River Bridge and bring their paddy to these East Coast mills, which is expensive. What are the Minister of Agriculture and the Guyana Rice Producers Association doing? Some of the Corentyne millers are exploiting the farmers by under-paying them for the paddy. What will befall the West Coast Berbice and East Coast rice farmers this coming Autumn crop?

Yours faithfully,
Rudolph Singh