Dear Editor,
According to Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud (KN, 31.5.08), the government has sounded a clear warning to the importers and distributors of fertilizers that it will not tolerate hoarding and unrealistic pricing, as the farmers have complained bitterly.
Before my accident as an extension officer with the Guyana Rice Producer’s Association (GRPA) in 2004 my job was to work along with the officers of GNBS in Region No 2. On our visits to all the importers and distributors we found that some of these entities were either short-weighting the fertilizers by five pounds or overcharging the rice farmers although they were receiving a waiver on taxes and duty from the government.
The reduction on these taxes never filtered down to the farmers and today the farmers are being asked to pay in excess of $10,000 for a bag of fertilizer (50kg) =110lbs on the Essequibo coast. I quite agree with the General Secretary of the GRPA that it is clear that there is a “mafia-type” stranglehold on the fertilizer being supplied to Guyana.
