Government has once again fulfilled another promise to rice farmers who are under severe pressure as a result of the adverse effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon on the current crop.
According to forecasts by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA) production of rice will be significantly curtailed because of the prolonged dry weather. So far there has been no indication that the rains are anywhere soon.
Therefore in keeping with its pledge to assist rice farmers in securing a better crop, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) has distributed $205M worth of fertiliser vouchers.
The assistance is part of the $400M package made available by President Bharrat Jagdeo to sustain the rice sector in recognition of the high production costs.
General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, disclosed that the vouchers have been distributed across the 10 regions of Guyana.
The project, which is executed by the GRDB, in collaboration with the RPA, is being conducted at a cost of $208M and is aimed at alleviating the suffering of farmers.
Seeraj expressed confidence that farmers will be offered improved prices in light of the current pricing on the international market.
Farmers had agreed to the financial aid through a two-pronged strategy, the drying floors and the fertiliser assistance.
During consultations, farmers had disclosed that they were not interested in cash payments but requested tangible aid in the form of fertilizers and extension of available and new drying facilities across the rice-growing belt.
The vouchers are valued at $2,200 to a maximum of 30 acres, and can be exchanged for fertilizers at companies identified by the RPA.
Each farmer who cultivates 30 or more acres will receive 30 bags at half price, paying only $2,200.
The GRDB said the process was initially hindered by inaccurate information supplied to extension officers by the farmers.
The Board noted that it had become time consuming for the information to undergo the verification process since this was done in the fields.
The RPA has maintained an active database containing the names of legitimate farmers, which has assisted in the simplification of the verification process.
A further sum of $180M will be spent on building 12 drying facilities along the coast in Regions 2,3,4,5 and 6. The first was recently completed in Region Three, at Crane, West Coast Demerara.
This will allow farmers to store paddy for more than 72 hours before processing, reducing the incidence of spoilage.
It is hoped that the new initiative will strengthen farmers’ bargaining power as it pertains to pricing.
All these initiatives to  bring relief to farmers is another demonstration of the government’s unflinching commitment to rice farmers and the agriculture sector as a whole and further debunks the claims by critics of the government that it is not paying attention to the plight of farmers.
The records will show that this People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government and previous ones always placed heavy emphasis on agriculture.
However, while production for this crop looks gloomy all is not lost for rice farmers as experts predict that rice prices this year are likely to increase because of lower production as a result of natural disasters
Rice prices in the global market for 2010 are likely to increase due mainly to lower crop production resulting from natural disasters, said Vichak Visetnoi, Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade (DFT), a state- owned media reported Friday.
As externally the rice supply is falling, but on the demand side it is seen continuously rising, hence many foreign countries are expected to import more rice, the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) under the state-owned Public Relations Department, quoted Vichak as saying.
Planned bids for rice imports in March, 2010, by the Philippines will be another factor, which will boost the global price of rice, he said.
Vichak disclosed that during Jan. 1 to Feb. 17, 2010, some 1.11 million tons of Thai rice, worth of 694 million U.S. dollars, were exported by Thailand.
Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter. (Source: Xinhua)
In view of the above if there not any adverse weather patters for the second rice crop and production could rebound, which is very likely, rice farmers should be able to a large extent to recoup losses they would have suffered during this first crop.