On Thursday, PPP/C MP Irfaan Ali is scheduled to move a motion in Parliament calling for the resumption of negotiations with Venezuela for the sale of rice and paddy.
Venezuela last year ended the importation of rice and paddy under the PetroCaribe barter arrangement. Venezuelan officials had said that Guyana had been given due notice of this as other countries were to be given an opportunity to benefit from this mechanism.
Ali’s motion also seeks a number of other things including the ending of all forms of taxes and duties on fuel for the industry.
A copy of Ali’s motion follows:
WHEREAS on the 31st day of October, 2015, Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj, the General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association and a Member of Parliament, wrote to the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Noel Holder, upon the direction of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, conveying to the Honourable Minister the grave concern of the PPP/Civic in respect of the state of the Rice Industry in Guyana;
AND WHEREAS in that letter it was pointed out that rice farmers were promised a one hundred percent (100%) increase in the price for which paddy was sold for the first crop of 2015, by several leaders of the APNU+AFC during the campaign leading up to the National and Regional Elections held on 11th May, 2015, and that in breach of that promise, for the second crop for 2015, farmers received between 35 percent (35%) to sixty percent (60%) of the price which they obtained for their paddy in the first crop of 2015;
AND WHEREAS as a consequence, both rice farmers and rice millers are facing tremendous financial and economic hardships and many of them are unable to meet their obligations under loan contracts with commercial banks for which their homes and other assets have been lodged as collateral by way of mortgages and as a result, many of these properties are now in jeopardy of being the subject of foreclosures and sales;
AND WHEREAS in an attempt to bring some measure of relief a number of measures where proposed to the Honourable Minister for his implementation;
AND WHEREAS none of these proposed measures have been implemented and the situation in the rice industry has since gotten progressively worse;
BE IT RESOLVED:
That this National Assembly calls upon the Government of Guyana to implement the following measures with every convenient speed:
(i) To resume negotiations with the Government of Venezuela with the intention of selling rice and paddy to that country;
(ii) To immediately remove all form of taxes and duties on fuel for the industry;
(iii) To remove all taxes and duties on inputs for the industry including machinery, equipment and spares;
(iiii) To commence discussions with all the commercial banks lending to the industry to review terms and conditions of loans taking into account the low prices farmers are getting in order to ‘soften’ repayment conditions;
(v) To suspend payments of land leases and drainage and irrigation charges;
(vi) To lay supplementary provisions in the National Assembly to provide financial support to farmers in order to aid in the purchase of seed paddy and fertilizers;
(vii) To immediately implement minimum export prices for rice and paddy;
(viii) To implement an aggressive marketing strategy in order to enhance current prices and secure new lucrative markets; and
(ix) To withdraw its pronouncement that the rice industry’s crisis “is a private matter” and give support to the industry, especially the farmers.
