Following last year’s unprecedented production of over 400,000 tonnes of rice, Guyana’s rice industry has churned out another excellent production figure. And with a week more of harvesting, this year’s target of 412,225 tonnes has been exceeded, as 417,849 tonnes have been produced  so far.
Deputy General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Mr. Ricky Ramraj also projected that by the end of this second crop, approximately 210,000 tonnes of rice would have been produced, thereby approximating the total production of rice for 2012 at 420,000 tonnes.
He also pointed out that 150,300 tonnes had been targeted for export for the first crop, but 143,674 tonnes were actually exported, earning revenues of US$84,546,000. However, for the current crop, 157,408 tonnes have already been exported, and Ramraj emphasised that the target of 166,800 tonnes will be achieved by the end of the crop. To date, the industry has earned US$91,429,000 in exports from this crop.
Ramraj said it was projected that the industry would earn US$164,666,000 in exports for the year, but it has in fact earned US$175,998,000 as at current date.
He said land preparation is well under way for the first crop of 2013, wherein an even bigger first crop is expected.
This is extremely heartening news and all the players in the industry, particularly our resilient and persistent farmers, who at certain periods suffered heavy losses due to flooding or drought which really put them under severe challenges and had to seek government’s intervention to re-negotiate terms of payment for loans from the banking sector.
Many farmers also suffered at the hands of a few rapacious rice millers who took their paddy and processed and exported it but failed to pay them in a timely manner.
However, the excellent performance of the rice industry is a vindication of the government’s sound agricultural policy and programmes and the tremendous empahasis which is being placed on drainage and irrigation and research and training.
Notably, the superb performance of our rice industry is in keeping with the global trend because, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), global rice production for 2012/13 is forecast at a record 465.1 million tons (milled basis), up 0.8 million tons from last month’s forecast and fractionally above a year earlier. Global rice area is projected at 158.7 million hectares, fractionally below a year earlier, with India accounting for most of the year-to-year decline. The average global yield is forecast at a record 4.37 tons per hectare, fractionally above 2011/12.
FAO added that some countries are expected to register production gains, including China (mainland), Indonesia and Thailand, along with several other countries in Asia. Production in Africa may increase by as much as 3 percent, while Australia’s rice harvest was 32 percent higher than last year. Prospects are also good for the South American nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela, but poor precipitation and shifts towards more remunerative products in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are behind a 7 percent drop of production in Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole.

Global rice inventories at the close of the 2012-2013 marketing years were revised upward by 200 000 tonnes to 164.5 million tonnes (milled basis). This would imply a 9 million tonnes increase from the previous year and mark the eighth consecutive season of stock accumulation. Thailand needs to release its abundant stocks before the October harvest, which could impact prices.
If this current upward production trend in Guyana continues  then, perhaps in another couple of years, we may hit the 500,000-tonne mark which would bring not only immense benefits to farmers and the rice industry, but also to the national economy that has been commended for its robust growth in recent years.