THE small Alliance for Change (AFC) party is reminded that the rice industry on the Essequibo Coast is currently flourishing under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government and rice farmers have benefited significantly from government’s massive investment in the rice industry from October 1992 to now.
An article in the Stabroek News dated September 8 and captioned: “AFC says Essequibo rice sector beset by a number of problems,” is terribly inaccurate and far from the truth. It is also painting the wrong picture of the Essequibo rice industry. The AFC says the inefficiency of the Dawa pump near the Pomeroon is a cause for serious concern and is among problems besetting the rice industry.
Let me set this matter straight. First of all, the Dawa pump station came about because of the founder of the PPP Dr Cheddi Jagan’s vision for the rice industry on the Essequibo Coast.
During the PPP governments  in the 1950s and early 1960s Dr Jagan who was then premier had the Dawa pump station constructed with the idea of pumping water from the Pomeroon River into the Tapakuma Lake and into the drainage and irrigation network to irrigate rice lands during the dry weather period. How is it now that the AFC that was formed the other day is seeing this as a problem?
The PPP/C government under the leadership of President Bharrat Jagdeo has installed four new pumps and rehabilitated the pump station to make it more efficient to supply water to rice lands in hot weather. Millions of dollars were spent there. Has anybody from the AFC’s camp gone there to see the newly rehabilitated Dawa pump station?
The current rice crop is actually 85 per cent ready for harvest, only a small portion that was sown late will need water and that’s not a problem. There is enough water in the system to irrigate those fields.
Vice-Chairman Samaroo reported that irrigation is currently ongoing in the downstream areas for the AFC’s information. The Dawa pump station is working well and efficiently.
The pump is operated by the regional administration whenever there is need for additional water in the system. Only recently, the administration operated pumps for at last 10 days to pump water into the irrigation system using some 50 drums of diesel, all for the benefit of rice farmers. The pumps are operated to its maximum efficiency.
The Drainage and Irrigation Department always ensures that farmers are given irrigation supply in a very timely manner. Well, the AFC article said too that years gone by an efficient system of drainage and irrigation was maintained by rangers who did periodic checks. That system is still maintained and the entire system is properly monitored and has not broken down as the AFC is claiming.
Concerning payment for farmers’ produce, the government has put laws in place via the Rice Factory Act to assist farmers and has secured international markets through GRDB and RPA for paddy and rice. The latest market is the Venezuelan market from which farmers are benefiting.
Look at the expansion of cultivation areas on the Essequibo Coast, where every field is planted with rice each crop.
Well, then if the rice industry is in trouble because of problems as claimed by the AFC, how come farmers are doing so well…buying new vehicles, tractors, building new houses?
Guyana has always been a supplier of rice to the Caribbean and markets farther afield. The PPP/C government, when it took office in October, 1992 had to put  the rice industry back on its feet after it was destroyed by the previous government. Now the rice industry is blooming again and here comes the AFC with its action plan, to do what? Well, all Guyanese know the rice industry is going well and the AFC can keep its plans for some other time.
Government, through the GRDB, RPA and NARI, has invested heavily in the rice sector, providing higher and resistance yielding plants. Every crop there are several experimental plots cultivated in the rice-growing regions and many farmers are taken to observe the growing of the new varieties. They are also given lectures on the various rice crops.
At Anna Regina, the government has constructed a seed bond and facilities to test and select quality seeds for the benefit of farmers.
Region 2 is a rice-growing area and the administration has spared no effort to ensure that the industry prospers.
The rice industry in Region 2 never prospered under the PNC government.