For all its challenges associated with weak infrastructure, high investment costs, unfavourable weather and an unpredictable global market, Chief Executive Officer of one of Guyana’s most successful investors in the sector, Nand Persaud and Company, Rajindra Persaud firmly believes that over the long haul the rice industry has been a stayer, a success and that it has proven itself to be very much the front runner in the country’s still highly valued agricultural sector.
If the drastic decline of sugar is there for all to see and if the envisaged rise of an oil sector has already triggered warnings regarding the dangers of casting aside the food security assurances which farming has traditionally provided, arguably the country’s most successful investors in the sector insist that while, over the years, the business of managing what is now a multi billion dollar company has been exacting, it has been, at the end of the day, decidedly worth the while.
In recent years, Persaud told Stabroek Business during an interview, it has not been a question of ‘through the roof’ prices, but rather, one of world market prices holding their own sufficiently to allow reasonable reward for shrewd management and an understanding of the industry.
