ACCORDING to Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy rice farmers are now achieving better yield as compared to previous years.

“Rice production is doing pretty well right now. I’ve been through the fields and most of the farmers are ready to reap. The dams are being prepared to allow them to do so and one of the things that is obvious is that the farmers are getting a better yield maybe because of the more ideal weather,” he said.
He noted that the ministry has data dating back as far as 1903. According to him, looking at the decades, in 1970, 1980 and 1990 farmers were getting approximately 1.8 tonnes of rice per hectare. However, in 2000 this amount increased to about 2.8 tonnes and last year saw an even further increase to approximately 4.4 tonnes per hectare.
The minister advised that for the first crop in 2012, the yield was approximately 4.5 tonnes per hectare, while in the second crop the average for those farmers who have reaped so far is about five tonnes, with Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) doing the best.
He pointed out that farmers in Regions 3 (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and 6x (East Berbice/Corentyne) are also doing fairly well and explained that the reason for this may be the fact that more farmers are increasingly utilising science and technology.
Dr. Ramsammy stated that they conduct of Farmers’ Field Schools where farmers are carried into the fields and benefit from discussions and demonstrations.
“We bring all the farmers to have discussions, so the farmers are utilising better technology and applying more knowledge in how to apply fertilisers, etc.,” he added.
In addition, the minister revealed that last Thursday he visited Burma Rice Research Station where they are now testing many different varieties of rice. He further stated that he has instructed researchers to do computer modeling; that is, to use computerised methods of testing the different varieties.
“What we have done so far is that we have taken the different varieties and we mix them up to produce a hybrid line,” he commented.
A line that is now being tested, he disclosed, is coded GRDB 9 which, in the case of flooding, can stay in water for up to three weeks, while another line, GRDB 10 gives a higher yield.
“That’s why you mix and match them; to get the best characteristics and they have hundreds of them. So what we are doing now is computer modelling them cause we know all the lines that we have and if we get all the information and computer model, we select what we would like to see using our imagination and then find which varieties have the particular characteristics and start combining the genetics to produce high yielding rice because our goal is to exceed six tonnes per hectare,” Dr. Ramsammy explained.
He said that for the first time in Guyana’s history last year 410,000 tonnes of rice was produced, noting that this much had never been produced before.
The minister further stated that since 1993, only three times rice production has fallen below 300,000 tonnes. In addition, he pointed out that in 1990, the industry barely made 30,000 tonnes to export while last year 350,000 tonnes of rice was exported.
He also highlighted that last year approximately 96,000 tonnes of rice was produced in Moco Moco, Region 9 (Upper Takatu/Upper Essequibo) and next year two other plantations are expected to be opened in the hinterland, specifically in Regions 1 (Barima/Waini) and 7 (Cayuni/Mazaruni).
Additionally, Dr. Ramsammy advised that they are now on the final stage of producing aromatic rice. He explained that this is a specialised type of rice, like the popular Basmati Rice of India, and it is currently coming out of the experimental stage and entering the advance stage of production. In Region 6, he added, they currently have approximately 60 acres of aromatic rice.