GUYANA and Suriname are advancing cooperation in the rice sector and paddy from here could be shipped to the neighbouring republic for milling, given available capacity there. A high-level team from the Rice Research Station of Suriname (SNRI/ADRON) is in Guyana to examine strides made in the sector here, and the possibility of using local experience as a model for Suriname’s rice farmers.
The team is headed by Mr. Lakhram Soerdjan MP, Director (ADRON), and includes Mr. Nareen Gajadin, Agronomist (ADRON); Mr. Gilbert Nojotaroeno, Plant Breeder (ADRON); Mr. Harinandan Oemraw, farmer (SPBA, a farmers’ organisation);and Mr. Freddy Tawjoeram, miller (Sunrice Mill), ISO-certified.
The team yesterday met Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud at his Georgetown office.
The Agriculture Ministry said Mr. Persaud stated that the exchange visit of technical officers will create greater rice industry linkages between the two countries.
He noted that Guyana and Suriname are the major rice producing members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and linkages between them are necessary for rice trade in the grouping.
Persaud pointed out that Guyana’s rice industry has recently seen increased production with record high output targets.
The ministry said he added that Guyana will also explore the possibility of exporting paddy to Suriname since its rice industry has been declining and Guyana can use its milling capacity.The current visit stemmed from a memorandum of understanding agreed on August 1, 2009 between the Agriculture Ministers of the two countries on collaborating in rice research.
As a result, the ministry said, a team from the Guyana Rice Development Board visited SNRI/ADRON last month.
It said the current exchange visit will give the neighbouring countries an opportunity to share research, management practices and knowledge for a more competitive and sustainable rice industry.
“The first phase as set out in the MOU has been completed and an action plan for further cooperation will be developed between Guyana and Suriname,” it reported.
Bilateral cooperation in rice and other agriculture sectors was agreed on when new Suriname President Desi Bouterse met President Bharrat Jagdeo here earlier this month.
Bouterse told reporters the rice sector was one area where Suriname could benefit with assistance from Guyana. He said Suriname’s once thriving rice industry which covered about 70,000 hectares in the 1980s, has been reduced to less than half of that. He said this is of concern to his government, noting that Guyana has seen an improvement in rice production.
Once “order and perspective” is brought to rice production in Suriname, this would create the basis for the two countries to meet and see how they can both more proactively penetrate the Caribbean market, Bouterse said.
He said while several goods are subsidised when brought into the region, if Guyana and Suriname combine resources they could be large suppliers of food to the Caribbean.
President Jagdeo said they examined some “very practical mechanisms” which could lead to positive developments in agriculture, adding that some existing systems in the CARICOM network may be successfully applied in a bilateral arrangement with Suriname.