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Rice board fumes over $26M in rubber cheques

The Guyana Rice Develop-ment Board (GRDB) yesterday announced it would support legal action against the Mahaicony Rice Mills Ltd (MRL), after some cheque payments to farmers for their first crop were not honoured at the bank.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Board said 18 farmers who turned up at a bank at Rose Hall, Corentyne, were told that only one payment would be made to them, although they had several cheques. The total value of the cheques not honoured was $26.3M. One farmer had 29 cheques in his possession which could not be cashed. “Wrong cannot be right and the MRL will be treated as provided for under the law regardless of its size,” the Board statement said, noting that in addition to supporting farmers who seek legal action it is also considering various other options to ensure the company fulfils its obligations.

The Board also noted that its previous attempts to protect farmers have been met by court challenges and it cited action by MRL in June after farmers complained that they had not received full payments for paddy. In this context, it called a new legal suit by MRL, claiming loss of income in that case, as a pre-emptive move to frustrate the Board’s actions. “The GRDB will maintain at all time a high degree of professionalism in executing its function and MRL as the largest single operator in the industry is not above the law and will be treated as any other operator in the industry,” it said.

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18 Responses to “Rice board fumes over $26M in rubber cheques”

MACK
on October 11th, 2008 8:33 am

This is another example of why farming in Guyana cannot take hold. Companies are selling their products, but are not doing the right thing to the farmer. The old Guyana Marketing Corporation did a great job of paying people for their products, but due to corruption, it had to be closed. With the new call for growing and the demand for agricultural products abroad, the Government needs to put policies in place which will make it possible for farmers to be paid for their products. If this is not done, people will stop farming, and there will go another opportunity to develop this country.

[Reply to this]
michael tannassee
on October 11th, 2008 9:11 am

Writing “bad” checks is considered “FRAUD”,,, isn’t fraud in GY ,, a crime ? instead of reading abt the hapless farmers ,, and the fuming of the rice board ,,
the police should be arresting and charging the “con” who wrote the checques !

and SN ,, should be more aware of what their reporters ,, write and the editor ,, should be more sensitive to the readers ,, who feel insulted with the captions of many of the reports ,, i.e. the story of the child who “bore” her foot/feet with nails in the school compound ,, BORE ????????????? the syntax is correct ,, but the
word “bore ” is for kindergartners in GY !,,,,,,

[Reply to this]
E/bo. Die Hard
In reply to the above comment on October 11th, 2008 1:26 pm:
Moderator please published my comment: This is a disease with rice millers, my mom now deceased was never paid for her paddy which she sold during the period of 1994-1995 to a rice miller to the tune 3.9M Gy$. GRDB never helped! Farmers begged the board to intervene and assist the rice farmers, until to date no one was never given assistance nor paid. I question the purposed of the GRDB and the corrupted elements that is within. The rice mill was seized by Government, now sold to this said company, who is now issuing bounce check, when will this nonsense stop!

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Forbes Moore
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 12:33 am:
michael. You get it right . Who ever wrote those checques should have been jailed by now. Instead the BANK & GOVERNMENT, ARE LIKE TWO TOOTHLESS BULL DOGS, incapable of helping the farmers, who toiled their butts off, to make a living, and now these

[Reply to this]
Fulano de Tal
on October 11th, 2008 9:49 am

I could be wrong in my analysis but I believe the cheques were paid with the “hope” that the rice would have been sold. Especially with the minister guaranteeing that Jamaica would purchase then with the ‘honourable’ president “busing out” the Jamaican PM the amounts sold could not account for the amounts produced. So, like I said Mr. Pressie, when taking certain actions as HEAD of a nation you NEED to REMEMBER PEOPLE’S LIVES & LIVELYHOODS ARE AT STAKE.

[Reply to this]
quibian
on October 11th, 2008 11:01 am

i am sorry to disagree with you mack but as a former rice farmer it was sheer hell with the old guyana marketing corporation. do you know how many months you had to wait and how many butts you had to kiss to get your money for paddy sold? the corruption and sheer incompetence was unbelieveable. talk about square pegs in round holes!

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M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
on October 11th, 2008 3:04 pm

This is not the first time MRL is doing this to rice farmers. As we say in the countryside, “They musee getting pluck from somebody straang.”

[Reply to this]
Mohandas Kharamchand Gandhi
on October 11th, 2008 5:27 pm

I am stuned by the actions of the rice board…………..why they did not take the same action against the companay that was running the MARDS complex……farmers are stilled owed by this company…………..is it that the company that was running the mill was a friend of GRDB or elements of the government?……………..why are these thing happenning………………..why dont the minister use some of his good time and rewrite the GRDB act rather that going on “grow more food campain”…………grom more rice for who???………….

[Reply to this]
Forbes Moore
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 1:28 am:
Mohandas. For who? The same mouths, that bite the hands, that feed them.

[Reply to this]
SUSIE
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 5:00 am:
i strongly support you Mohandas Kharamchand Gandhi . Thanks for that comment.

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Ankoko
on October 11th, 2008 7:36 pm

This business with the MRL can really confuse people! I’m sure that lots of people think that MRL is the the same old GRB at Burma but that isn’t so according to what I’m told by people there. This MRL outfit is some private venture involving some expatriates and Lord knows who else. They were in problems with the Gov’t over Taxes a while back. The public needs to get some info on who are the real owners and directors and what is really going on because it stands to reason that if the owners don’t belong here then they could well be running theinfrastructure into the ground then to disappear at any time without paying anyone who is owed including the utility companies and taxes owed to the Govt. I remember companies that did some of that some time back.
If they have the rice in their bond because it can’t be exported because the President ‘buse’ the Jamaicans - then let the public know that’s why there is no money to pay the farmers and find a solution to the problem.
If on the other hand the owners trying to rob the farmers - then deal with them according to the law. Bottom line - The farmers need their money and poste haste!! People in authority - Are you listening???

[Reply to this]
freespeech
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 7:36 pm:
SN incompetent reports should have check the registrar for the owners names, those are public records.
all farmers must demand to be paid by certified cheques, you want to do business you must have the capital.

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Caesar
on October 11th, 2008 11:24 pm

The banks should use their brains a bit more.The returned checks should be returned to the MRL with a return checks fee for $5million. They would not try that trick on farmers again.

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SUSIE
on October 12th, 2008 4:33 am

dear editor,
i do agree with all the comments made by fellow readers but i strongly believe that there is/are reason/s why these payments cannot be made promplty by mrl.

Instead of GRDB making alligations againt this company they along with the minister of agriculture (mr Robert Persaud) should go in depth to find out more from the company, as to why the company cant meet its demands to pay these farmers.

GRDB and Mr. Robert should try to find out and see if there is a way that they can even assist the company to pay these farmers.

i know that the farmers are depressed and yes they really want teir monies to go back on track for the new crop but i strongly believe that the company has/ have reasons why they cant be promt with the payment to the farmers.

For earlier years when this company was purchasing paddy their payments standards were excellent .

All i am saying is that before taking actions GBRD and Mr. Robert should find out properly the reason/s why this is so and try to see if they can assist this company.

[Reply to this]
Mohandas Kharamchand Gandhi
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 3:41 am:
I strongly agree with Susies’ comments. But i think the MRL does not have a money problem. This is a Multinational Company. They have branches all over the Caribbean and they have a lot of money. So thats not a problem. I think what they do is take the Farmers’ Paddy, sell it, Bank the money for six months, get the intrest on it and then pay the farmers.

Common Robert………..what u will tell the farmers of mahaicony who have been owed by PANDORA for years now?………Arent the GRDB going to help in legal action too???Help these people…………….these are the people that have the potential to make the economy of this country grow.

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Johan
on October 12th, 2008 5:36 am

“..if the owners don’t belong here then they could well be running theinfrastructure into the ground then to disappear at any time without paying anyone…”

Yo’ mean like the old GPL management? Remember that huge payback they were ordered by the courts to make before the were ALLOWED to cut and run wid all we money? It should have been obvious when they were raising and raising rates, that they never planned to stick around.

SOMEBODY needs to look out for the ordinary people of Guyana. And maybe it’s time we ordinary people start INSISTING on that.

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Ankoko
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 4:37 pm:
You got my drift!!

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bbuckman
on October 12th, 2008 11:09 pm

The collaboration between farmers and ricemiller, which is encouraged by the government, is an uneasy allegiance. The miller need for access to capital before the sale of rice is miller’s problem.
They should put their house and equipment as collateral to gain access to capital. The activity of their travel document should be monitored.

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