Agriculture Minister Noel Holder is currently awaiting a report from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) on the next course of action in acquiring markets for Guyana’s rice.
His comment follows what he called a recent “high powered” meeting with the board.
Last year, Guyana produced 663,000 tonnes of milled rice and another hugely successful crop is expected.
Asked about strides to find new markets, the minister mentioned the Panama market, which he spoke of as though it was a new initiative although Guyana has been shipping roughly 50,000 tonnes to Panama since last year. At the beginning of 2015, former minister of agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy had stated that additional strides were being made to see if Panama was inclined to import additional rice, as the Spanish-speaking nation imports over 150,000 tonnes annually.
Additionally, in 2013 Guyana increased its export of paddy to Jamaica, breaking the United States’ hold on the market. Jamaica imports between 80,000 tonnes and 90,000 tonnes of rice and paddy from Guyana.
Guyana also exports rice to Haiti through a private deal worked out by the SAJ Rice Mill, which supplies some 50,000 tonnes.
Holder became defensive when Stabroek News asked what he expects the GRDB report to contain, given the timing of the meeting and the urgency in finding new markets as the harvest is drawing to a close.
He stated that markets take time.
Asked if that was not considered when the GRDB was appointed and if one of the first acts of the new board was comprehensively working out a strategy for acquiring markets to alleviate the strain being placed on farmers and millers, Holder noted that it was not just the individuals that were responsible for finding markets but a collective. The minister said that there needs to be involvement of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in addition the Agriculture Ministry as it pertained to establishing and building ties with countries to acquire markets.
Chairman of the Board Claude Housty, was brought on due to what was reported as his extensive marketing skills and knowledge of the industry. Housty had been part of the rice industry in the 1980s.
Asked what specifics have been outlined and what the course for the future will be inclusive of the 2015 harvest, Holder simply stated that “we are going to find other markets.”
He downplayed recommendations by the agriculture spokesperson for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and General Secretary of the Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj, who suggested that concessions would ease the financial burden faced by rice farmers and millers.
Holder called the recommendations “political.”
Seeraj had outlined during a recent press briefing at Freedom House that the recommendations made by the PPP on ways to lessen the impact of low rice prices mirrored what was already done by the APNU+AFC government in the mining sector.
“These are not ingenious ways. They are actually already doing it for the mining sector. What is wrong with merely [granting] that to the rice sector? They said to cushion the impact of falling prices in the gold, in gold and mining they have implemented a number of measures. Farmers are actually getting half as much as they used to get [for rice], 50% less… now that is a dramatic impact on their income and their ability to survive,” he noted.
He said the government could make moves to suspend payments for land leases as well as drainage and irrigation charges. Simultaneously, Seeraj recommended the immediate removal of all taxes and duties on imports for the industry including machinery and spares. He said farmers would greatly appreciate the removal of duties on fuel as the cost of fuel heavily impacts the cost of production.
Venezuela
While this year’s rice agreement with Venezuela was valued at US$113 million, Seeraj stated that Guyana only shipped US$42 million in rice before the deal was brought to a close.
“If Venezuela accounts for 38% of exports … it accounts for about 75% to 78% of export earnings and that is the significance of the Venezuela market. So, whichever market replaced the Venezuela market by quantity will fall way short of replacing Venezuela in terms of value,” Seeraj stated.
His sentiments were in reaction to Holder’s downplaying of the market. The minister reiterated to Stabroek News that Guyana would be shipping large quantities of rice to welcoming countries. Although asked by the Stabroek News to clarify the amount paid under the Venezuela Rice Agreement, Holder did not respond.
The minister had stated instead that there was no going back to Venezuela.
Seeraj told members of the media that millers and farmers have complained to the RPA that export deals are being signed for as low as US$150 to US$350 per tonne of rice. He, however, said the GRDB has not been accommodating in releasing information and as such he has been unable to substantiate these claims by farmers and millers.
Stabroek News has been unsuccessful in attempts to obtain information pertaining to 2015 exports to date from General Manager of the GRDB Nizam Hassan and the Chairman of the GRDB.
