West Berbice rice farmer sees uncertain times ahead

Rice farmer Humberto Hamilton (left) receiving his certification after a recent seminar.

Humberto Hamilton has been contemplating the unfolding developments in the country’s rice industry with a mixture of anxiety and optimism.

His concerns range from the likely implications of an unfolding freefall in the world market price for oil and its implications for Venezuela’s ability to sustain the PetroCaribe agreement that provides a market for around a third of the country’s overall rice production, to the pressures that will fall on the rice sector to