THE MV Oslo left Venezuela yesterday with 7,000 tons (140,000 bags) of urea fertilizer for farmers in Guyana. 

The fertilizer will be available to famers by Monday, November 24th. The Ministry of Agriculture has mandated the Guyana Rice Development Board and the Guyana Rice Producers Association to ensure that farmers have access to the fertilizer at a cost no greater than $5,000 per bag in their region of production, and to explore possibilities of a cost under $5,000 per bag.

The arrival of the 7,000 tons of urea from Venezuela is another component of the PetroCaribe arrangement, but Guyana is paying cash from advances being made through the Government of Guyana. The prices being paid by the Government is the best available price on the international market at this time.

The Government wanted to ensure the availability of urea at this price at this time, because the price being charged by the private sector has again been creeping up.
The arrangement for procurement of fertilizer on behalf of farmers is a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture, the GRDB and the RPA. We are grateful for the tremendous support we have received from the RPA.

Some of the fertilizer will be available to cash crop farmers, but most of it will be utilised by rice farmers around the country. During the 2nd crop of 2013, the Government offered fertilizer at $5,000 per bag at a time when the price had risen to between $7,000 and $8,000 in the private sector. Since then, the price stabilised at about $5,200 in the private sector, but has crept up in recent months. In the first crop of 2014, the price had risen closer to $6,000 per bag, but in a partnership with the RPA, the Government was able to offer farmers urea to meet some of their needs at $5,200 per bag in a subsidised programme.

This is only one of the initiatives that the Government has been providing to the rice industry and to farmers in general.

The rice industry presently has reached almost 90% land preparation for the next rice crop (the 1st of 2015). In addition, other farmers are busy preparing to get their acreage ready for the next crop.
With greater than 97% of the 2014 harvesting completed, Guyana’s rice production stands at 627,463 tons. With the completion of the harvesting in a few weeks time, the crop is expected to surpass 2013 production by almost 100,000 tons again in 2014. Guyana had exceeded the 2012 production by more than 100,000 tons in 2013.

Export has grown significantly. In 2014, so far, Guyana has exported 423,900 tons and it has contracts for 2014 delivery of 90,176 tons. This means that Guyana would exceed 500,000 tons for 2014, a milestone once considered utopian for the country. Note that export in 2013 was 395,000 tons. The export for 2014 will exceed this by more than 100,000 tons.

New markets have been added. Panama has become an important new market. Haiti, a market in which Guyana has been on and off, is growing at this time. Guatamala, Belize, Nicaragua and other destinations have been added.

Guyana has added greater capacity in drainage and irrigation and other infrastructure is being added to support the rice industry.

But one challenge remains as an important constraint. The industry cash flow of almost $50B has proven very difficult for rice millers. The consequence is payment to rice farmers continue to be a major barrier in the industry. The Government has ensured the ministry’s support of the process and advances have been made to allow some ease of the problem. The Government is working with the bankers association and millers to increase their credit available to them; this is in an effort to ensure a more timely payment to farmers.

In addition, the ministry has urged the bank to support the industry in a further commitment. In a meeting with bankers, the Minister of Agriculture thanked them for the major support they have provided for the industry and urged them to provide even more support to allow more timely payment to farmers.

The first crop of 2014 saw payments made to farmers of about $25B. Even though there was a significant delay in payment, almost all payments have been made except for about $200M, more than half of which the Government has stepped in to pay off.

In the second crop, almost $24B of sales were made by farmers, and millers have so far paid about $17B. It is expected that with advance payments being made to millers for rice to be exported for the rest of 2014, a major dent will be made in reducing the remaining $7B. Part of this payment will be supported by bank loans.

In the meantime, the Moco Moco rice farms have begun to produce rice that is available for Region 9 consumers and is providing livelihood for Moco Moco families. At Santa Fe also, almost 800 acres of land are under cultivation, as Santa Fe begins its fourth rice crop. In 2014, Santa Fe exported over 8,000 tons of cargo rice to Brazil. It is expected that Santa Fe will reach a target of over 20,000 tons in 2015. Already Santa Fe has become a major source of employment and outside of the Government, Santa Fe is now the main employer in Region 9.