New gov’t has duty to ensure Essequibo rice farmers paid

Dear Editor,

Some rice millers here on the Essequibo Coast have turned a number of rice farmers into beggars for their own money. I never believed that I would one day live to see farmers protesting on the road crop after crop for their own money. I was a rice farmer cultivating 10 acres of paddy twice a year, and for decades I know the sacrifices these farmers are going through without money to cultivate their crops, without being paid for months and some instances   years. The shortest variety of paddy is rustic and it takes 110 days to ripen and the longest one is 30-3 which takes 130 days to harvest. When a farmer cultivates his   rice crop, the risk is very high, he can lose the entire field with a number of disasters, like floods, especially in   prolonged drought and unpredictable weather patterns.

Rice farming is no bed of roses, the farmer has to wake up before day break and walk long distances to tend to his crop. He will   leave his field late into the night, this is his daily routine until he harvests his crop. If the dam is in a deplorable condition while transporting his paddy in bulk   and it capsizes into a canal or on dam, he can also lose his entire labour. The risk is too high for a rice farmer and no miller should dare try to rob him of his hard sweat and labour or have him waiting for his money for months without interest. I would like to congratulate those millers who saw it fit to pay off these rice farmers after purchasing their produce.

The thing that really amazed me is that these unscrupulous millers received bailouts from both governments and still owed the farmers millions of dollars. It’s my firm belief that these millers had used the bailout money   to modernize and extend their rice mills. Nothing is wrong in upgrading the mills, they should do it at their own expense and do not hold the poor farmers at ransom. Hundreds of Essequibo farmers are now being left unpaid after the PetroCaribe fund dried up. Recognizing the many challenges of non-payment, government, GRDB and the ministry of agriculture should make interventions and see that these farmers are paid. The Rice Act can play a very important part in taking the delinquent millers to court.

The defaulting millers’ names which were published in the media for non-payment, received debt write-offs from GNCB decades ago via the Jagdeo government but they still continue to owe farmers after they received subsidies in millions of dollars. I firmly believe that these millers are playing a hide and seek game with the farmers and the government. The other millers who have paid off their farmers promptly, continue with unstinting efforts to address the areas of proper management and strategic planning in their operations and will always prevail over the various anomalies which are facing the rice industry . These millers see the farmers as an asset to their own survival if they are to stay in the rice business and expand their operations. Let it be known that the rice industry is the most integrated of all sectors, be it political, economic or social, as it permeates across the entire fabric of our country.

Defaulting millers must understand that farmers depend on their money to feed their families and send their children to school.

For as long as I can remember, millers are owing farmers every crop for their produce. As a matter of fact, small farmers were forced to rent or sell out their lands when they became indebted. The banks often times foreclose on their assets and they have to go and find employment elsewhere in the gold bush so they can earn money to feed their families, pay bills and send their children to school. In closing, I would like to remind, the government and all millers, there are many instances where farmers in the rice sector were exploited to the extent of extinction. It is the duty of the new coalition government, GRDB and the Ministry of Agriculture to see that these farmers receive their outstanding payments for their paddy. Harvesting of the present crop has commenced in Region Two and it will be the first crop for the new coalition government.

Yours faithfully,

Mohamed Khan