Dear Editor,
I consider the rice deal with the two Jamaican companies a sour one, involving as it does US$400 a metric tonne for long-grain white rice on a long-term contract. I think if the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) had pressed for US$500 per metric tonne in their negotiations the farmers would have been in a better position to clear their expenses and go back to their lands. At the going price of $2,300 for the highest grade of paddy now being offered by millers to farmers they cannot go back to the land without assistance from government in terms of subsidies.
This means that the levy collected from rice and paddy will have to be filtered down to the farmers to help them survive. The results of a study were presented by Dr G Cramer in November 1998 at the Park Hotel which I attended, and from his findings, overall the industry appeared to be operating competitively in 1997. However, he said, additional export expertise would be needed in the long term to develop additional markets for Guyanese rice. Since then we have failed to heed his advice.
Guyana could become more competitive if it could increase the milling yield to the desired level of 55/70; it has already increased the national paddy yield per acre from the present average of 35.6 bags per acre to 48 bags per acre. The increased milling yield could improve the paddy value by 50 per cent and the increased paddy yield should increase the farmers’ returns. The GRDB should note that the production of higher quality rice would also increase the returns to the rice industry. With increased attention to these factors, GRDB will be in a stronger position to negotiate for a higher price for our rice and paddy.
The board might be looking at the increase in tonnage from 48,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes by the Jamaican buyer and think that it was a good deal. The truth is, however, increased quotas don’t mean more money for the rice farmers when the prices remain the same. What the board should do is look for more lucrative markets where the farmers will benefit.
It was reported to me that a certain rice miller at Vilvoorden is buying dry and clean paddy from some millers and paying them $5000 per bag. This means that the millers here in Region Two have become the middle-men in the rice industry; all they do is buy the farmers’ paddy at $2,300 per bag for A,B,C and sample grades, dry and clean it at their mills and then sell it to this mill at Vilvoorden for $5,000. This mill has a parent company in Suriname from where it will ship the paddy and milled rice to the Venezuelan market, where the prices are lucrative. These millers who buy the farmers’ rice do not have any wear and tear or have to service their machines; the only machines they are using are their dryers and cleaners.
If this is true the millers are in breach of the Rice Factories Amendment Act 2007.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
