The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is projecting the production of over 325,000 tonnes of rice at the end of the current crop after a significant increase in the amount of hectares that were sown.
Speaking to Stabroek News, GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan revealed that for the second crop of this year, the Board had initially aimed for 85,000 hectares to be sown. However, he said it had to revise that figure to over 90,000 hectares after some new lands were brought into cultivation.
As a result, it expects the harvest of over 500,000 tonnes of paddy, which will translate to more than 325,000 tonnes of rice.
Some, 12,553 hectares, 8,669 hectares, 3,791 hectares, 40,914 hectares and 24,488 hectares of land were sown in regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
Last year, for the first crop, 87,500 hectares were sown, resulting in 508,194 tonnes of paddy being reaped, which is equivalent to 330,326 tonnes of rice.
In the second crop, 81,035 hectares were sown, which produced 456,277 tonnes of paddy, the equivalent of 296,580 tonnes of rice.
Overall, the industry sowed 168,338 hectares, which produced 965,120 tonnes of paddy, equivalent to 627,328 tonnes of rice. This, he said, resulted in the exportation of 470,312 tonnes of rice and rice products to the international markets, which brought in US$186 million.
In 2017, 172,973 hectares were sown, which resulted in a paddy production of over 946,626 tonnes and rice production of over 615,307 tonnes, as compared to the 177,604 hectares that was sown in 2016, which produced 822,229 tonnes of paddy and 534,449 tonnes of rice.
