Dear Editor,
In response to the letter in the Saturday issue of the Stabroek News by Mr Bramdeow Singh, captioned ‘Instead of giving paddy vouchers for fertilizers the money should go to MMA to clean canals,’ I would like to inform Mr Singh and others like him, that this is one of the many farmers programmes that GRDB is executing on behalf of the government.
A background to this programme follows below, but allows me to state the following: after the farmers approached President Jagdeo and he agreed to assist, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Rice Producers Association (RPA) held numerous consultations across the rice-growing regions. As a matter of fact, Mr Bramdeow Singh was present at one such session when Minister of Agriculture Robert M. Persaud was at the Bush Lot School. During our consultation the farmers requested a subsidy on fertilizer and enhancing the capacity for drying paddy. Direct cash payment was rejected by them all.
This was reported to President Jagdeo, and he advised that these were good suggestions and both should be in the final programme. These were the farmers’ ‘wishes’ and not a one-man dictate as Mr Singh is trying to suggest. Secondly, giving the entire assistance for farmers to the MMA would only benefit the farmers in MMA/ADA Irrigation Scheme, and would not benefit all rice farmers in Guyana.
Below is a background to the programme and the current stage of implementation.
The Government of Guyana (GoG) through the RPA and the GRDB has embarked on a timely programme to assist rice farmers across Guyana affected by the global economic crisis. It was recognized that many farmers suffered as a result of high competition, drop in demand and reduced prices for rice worldwide. Rice farmers in Guyana found it difficult to locate and sustain the supply of rice to the Caribbean and international markets and were forced to reduce their prices while the cost of fertilizer increased steadily. Many farmers were forced to retain their stock, faced spoilage or find alternative local markets. However, these among other measures did not solve the problem and many rice farmers suffered major losses.
In response to this global crisis the GoG allocated the sum of $400 million as a measure of assistance, particularly for the most vulnerable and affected farmers in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. This assistance is implemented by the GRDB in collaboration with the RPA and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in the following areas: the distribution of fertilizer ($208,120,000); the construction of 12 drying facilities ($180,000,000); and technical assistance (administration) ($11,880,000)
As of December 28, 2009, a total of 5,324 rice farmers have received vouchers under the programme. The total value of vouchers distributed is $172,217,936.
A breakdown with regard to the number of farmers per region and the value of vouchers recived is outlined below.
Table # 1: Number of farmers and value of vouchers distributed per region
The initial distribution of vouchers has been completed . However, queries are currently being addressed. This process was expected to be completed by the end of the first week of January 2010, after which the final distribution of vouchers was to commence and was expected to be completed in one week.
The identification of areas for the construction of drying facilities has commenced. The technical design and bill of quantities are presently being done by an engineer. Ground preparation works have started in Regions 3, 5 and 6. In Region 3, construction of one of the drying floors has commenced.
Editor, please be informed that it is possible to check with my office for any information on Rice.
Yours faithfully,
Jagnarine Singh
General Manager
Guyana Rice Development Board.
