MPs split over support for rice farmers

Jennifer Wade

The rice industry is on “shaky ground,” APNU Member of Parliament Jennifer Wade said yesterday as she called on the government to assist farmers who are in dire need even as a fellow member from the government side Cornell Damon proclaimed that the administration was standing firmly behind rice farmers throughout the country.

Wade and Damon presented different views on the sector during their contribution to the budget debates in the National Assembly yesterday, with the former saying that farmers in Region Two are producing to their capacity and because of this situation the millers sometimes dominate the playing field and pay low prices for paddy purchased from them.

In recent times, farmers in Essequibo have been protesting over paddy payments and drainage issues and have been