Following complaints from farmers about the inaccurate weighing of their paddy by the Mahaicony Rice Mills, its licence has been suspended.
Regulations governing this were published in the Official Gazette on April 28, 2007.
A release from the Guyana Rice Development Board yesterday stated that the regulations seek to correct this issue by making it mandatory for scales with capacity in excess of two metric tonnes to be fitted with an electronic display to show their weight in kilogrammes.
This will avoid the subjectivity of the persons weighing when an analog scale is used, and it will also serve as a confidence-building mechanism between the farmers and millers, thereby enhancing their relationship.
According to the release Mahaicony Rice Mills Group of Companies is the largest paddy purchaser and exporter of Guyana’s rice over the last few years.
It allegedly circumvented the system by placing a computer monitor in the scale and manually entered the weight. Discussions at both the level of the GRDB and the Ministry of Agriculture failed to get this milling company to comply with the regulations. Rather they are requesting that the law be amended to facilitate their business as usual. This recent action by this group has forced the GRDB to suspend the manufacturer’s milling licence. This step the GRDB said was taken after the Mahaicony Rice Mills was given enough time to come into compliance.
And while this milling company is saying that it is finding it difficult to comply with the changes in the law, the smaller mills are taking steps to ensure that they meet these requirements.
Efforts to contact an official of the company yesterday for a comment on the issue proved futile.
