Rice coming on big time for Guyana
The Guyana Government’s insistence in the rice industry and its continued support for the sector is indeed paying off big time, as the commodity continues to record  substantial growth. This is reflected in rice production figures, the increase in hectares under cultivation, and the increase in prices for both paddy and rice on the export market. While all this has been happening, we have to give due recognition to our more than 12,000 rice farmers and their families, who have over the years stuck to the land in the face of extreme adversity.
These are the people who were glued to their rice culture prior to 1992, when the once flourishing industry had ground to a virtual halt. These were the years when the farmers were facing difficulties of immeasurable  proportion; when there seemed to be no way out.
Our rice farmers were however rewarded for their resoluteness, when in 1992, the current government won general elections after  twenty-eight years.  The rice industry immediately underwent  surgery and, before long, with heavy investments in programmes and initiatives through various agencies, etc, there was a forward movement.
Things have since turned around 360 degrees, and today rice farmers are reaping the benefits of their hard work and stubborn desire to continue with what they know best – the cultivation of rice.
Those farmers who had left the  land under the PNC, have since returned and are now sharing the gains.
It should be noted that the development of rice here took shape under compelling circumstances, but has since grown from strength to strength to earn itself the status of being among the top contributors to the country’s economy.
In fact, projections are that if the current growth of the rice sector is sustained, it should not be too long before it overhauls sugar in terms of importance to the country’s economy.
Indeed, production figures of the commodity are pointing in that direction, and the government, through its many programmes and agencies must continue  to  play the lead role for the sustenance and viability of the rice industry.
If we use production and export figures as a yard stick, no one could dispute the emergence of rice as the country’s number one agriculture export, overtaking sugar in the process.
When important world bodies and organizations  are sending warning signals about food shortages, we in Guyana could pride ourselves with being in the enviable position of providing food  for others.
As these warnings grow in density, our farmers are equal to the task of expanding on their acreage under cultivation, with a host of improved varieties that produce more yield per acre among other things, and that has been favourably reflected in production and export figures.
For instance, rice production figures  for last year were put at 401,904 tonnes. This represents an increase of 11 percent or 40,000 tonnes more than the corresponding period the year before when 361,525tonnes were produced.
Last year due to an increase in the acreage sown (141,588 hectares), there was a tremendous increase in paddy production when 613,314 tonnes were produced by farmers around the country.
In 2010, some 135,550 hectares were put under cultivation and this produced 556,193 metric tons of paddy.
It might also be useful to point out here that in that same year, 360,000 tonnes of rice were produced, 320,000 tonnes of which went on the export market.
Neighbouring Venezuela is our latest rice market and our farmers are gaining tremendously from good prices offered for our paddy and rice. To say the least, the Government is doing all it can to retain that market. Guyana exported more than 160,000 tonnes of rice to neighbouring Venezuela alone, while the export of rice last year earned this country more than US$169M.