IT is most unfortunate that rice farmers are again facing a royal runaround from Mahaicony Rice Limited (MRL) for payment for paddy sold to the company. This has happened several times before and the company keeps coming up with excuses for late payment or non-payment. In the meantime, farmers continue to suffer and the matter has reached such a disgusting level that some have opted for legal action as a last resort to recoup what is due to them.
MRL currently owes farmers about $300M and there is no clear date for full payment.
The company has said it will honour all its obligations, preferring, among other things, that it remains committed to the development of the industry and fully supports the government and its agencies in developing the industry.
Nice sounding sentiments but these offer very little comfort to those farmers faced yet again with the dilemma of not being paid.
If the company is fully supportive of the government and its agencies in developing the rice industry, would owing farmers crop after crop help in that regard or, on the contrary, help to drive farmers away from the industry and by extension subvert it?
There is a gross disparity between reality and what the company is saying.
It said it is not against auditing of its books in principle but wants professionalism and confidentiality.
Fair enough, but, initially, when the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) sent in its auditing team, it was refused access to the books of the company and had to seek redress from the police.
GRDB General Manager, Mr. Jagnarine Singh, said MRL’s refusal to hand over the necessary information is now a police matter and GRDB will abide with the outcome.
He maintained that the GRDB request for information to conduct the audit is lawful and in accordance with Section 10 (1) of the Rice Factories Act.
Mr. Singh claimed the MRL statement is a diversion from the real issue at hand.
He declared: “Mahaicony Rice is playing games. The issue is to pay the farmers what is owed to them. That is what is important.”
This is a fair summing up of the position and MRL should be forced to stop stalling and pay farmers on time.
If it cannot honour its obligations, farmers should be helped to find other, more reliable markets.