ACTIVISTS in the rice industry want the government to set up a stabilisation fund which they say will bring control to paddy prices.The Rice Producers’ Association Action Committee (RPAAC) has said the recommendation is in keeping with promises made by the governing coalition (APNU/AFC) before it took office following the May 11 polls.

The committee is also recommending establishment of an agriculture and industrial development bank to aid in development of the rice industry.

Millers look at the available markets and then demand processes based on what interest rates are at commercial banks, given that there is no agriculture bank, suggested Dr. Turhane Doerga, Co-Chair of the RPAAC and former head of the Alesie milling group.

He said that pricing mechanisms run millers into trouble, with rice farmers demanding prices based on suggestions they get from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).

“…so the farmers who are the majority and driving force of the economy…are being told by millers that they have lost money because GRDB told them to buy paddy at $3,250 a bag. When they did that, they have to eventually liquidate the stock for any price they can get, because it’s perishable.

“This is because there is no structure for marketing,” Doerga lamented.

Doerga also called for democratisation of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), namely the holding of free and fair elections to install a new executive. The RPA is currently headed by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Dharamkumar Seeraj.

Further, Doerga said there is need for structured marketing for rice, since it appears “that the old cartel is still in place, and they are making things very difficult to change for the betterment of farmers.”

Reflecting on the rice sector, Doerga noted that Venezuela had been paying Gy$9,000 per bag, but farmers only got between $2,500 and $3,200 per bag -– down from $6,500 in the latter part of the 1980s.

“These corrupt practices are now being investigated by a special forensic group of auditors,” he disclosed.

He also challenged statements made by former president, Bharrat Jagdeo; former GRDB head, Jagnarain Singh; Seeraj, and others that the rice industry had not been in crisis.

The committee would like to see the Minister of Agriculture fulfil the promises made by the government in its manifesto, as this would lead to development and transformation of the rice industry.

“I am giving him a window of opportunity to realise the commitments [made] within the APNU/AFC manifesto, especially pertaining to rice — that it should be taken seriously and should be fulfilled,” Jinnah Rahman, Chairman of the Committee, has stated.

“We had joined the APNU coalition because we believe that the PPP betrayed the trust of rice farmers in this country. They [rice farmers] were used as political footballs, and we are not going to allow it under the coalition,” Rahman said.

Meanwhile, Doerga said he would like to see the GRDB become completely free of former board members, whom he suggested have been “on the board for over a decade while mischief was happening.”

The rice industry is the only private sector entity that is legally controlled by the State through an Act of Parliament, the committee said.

Guyana has been breaking production records in recent years, with more than 630,000 tonnes of rice being produced in 2014. A record-breaking 500,000 tonnes were exported last year. (Rabindra Rooplall)