GRDB rejects Suriname envoy’s reported rice plague statement

The Guyana Rice Development Board today “categorically” rejected statements in Suriname’s De Ware Tijd’s, dwtonline quoting Suriname’s Ambassador to Guyana Ebu Jones as saying that an insect plague has broken out in the rice sector. 

In a statement, GRDB said that some farmers’ fields in Region 6 were affected by paddy bugs during the first crop of 2019.  Those paddy bug incidences were dealt with by farmers.  Paddy bugs are pests that affect paddy production globally.  

Ebu Jones (left) when he presented his letters of credence to President David Granger.

The Board said in the statement that ninety-eight percent of the crop has been harvested at end of May 2019 producing five hundred and nineteen thousand four hundred and seventy tonnes of paddy at an average yield of six tonnes per hectare compared to five hundred and eight thousand one hundred and ninety-five tonnes for the first crop of 2018.

Dwtonline also quoted Jones as stating that “paddy is smuggled from Guyana to Suriname”. 

The Board said that it is unaware of smuggling of paddy to Suriname. 

“In fact, rice has been and is being exported to Suriname legally.  For the period 2014-2018, three thousand five hundred and thirty-five (3,535) tonnes of rice and rice by-products were exported to Suriname.  In 2018 two hundred and thirty-three (233) tonnes were exported.  As at May 2019, ninety-eight (98) tonnes of parboiled rice were exported”, the GRDB said.

Overall exports for the first quarter of 2019 were 103,024 tonnes compared to 49,629 tonnes for the same period of 2018.

The Board said that despite challenges, the rice industry has been resilient and is dealing with the challenges as they present themselves.