Close to 5,000 additional hectares of rice were cultivated last year and resulted in an 11.4 percent increase in production when compared to 2009 figures.
Speaking with Stabroek News on Monday afternoon, President of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) Leekha Rambrich said that 63,802 hectares (one hectare equals 2.47 acres) and 71,713 hectares were cultivated last year in the first (spring) and second (autumn) crops, respectively. Farmers harvested a total of 4,088,197 bags of paddy during the first crop of 2010 and 4,491, 198 bags during the second crop. A total of 135,515 hectares of land were cultivated countrywide in 2010. This represents a 4,777 hectares (3.7 percent) increase in the land cultivated that year over 2009.
A slight increase in yield per hectare,
