The announcement by Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, that

SeaRice Caribbean Guyana, the United States-based  company that has acquired the assets of the Mahaicony Rice Mills Limited (MRL), will not be issued with a licence to operate until government is satisfied that the MRL indebtedness to rice farmers has been fully liquidated, is indeed refreshing and reassuring.
“As soon as I’m satisfied that the farmers have been paid, I will instruct GRDB (Guyana Rice Development Board) to give them (SeaRice Caribbean Guyana) the licence to operate. They have taken over control (of the MRL), but they don’t have a licence to operate at this time…. They will have to get a licence to operate, but I will not issue that licence,” the Agriculture Minister explained.

Dr Ramsammy’s announcement has come against the background of a persistent problem of non-payment to farmers, particularly with respect to MRL and from the assurances by the minister, farmers would now be confident to do business with the new company.
Apart from non-payment, farmers have had to contend with the issue of receiving bounced cheques from some rapacious and unscrupulous rice millers.
Farmers are very hardworking and endure tremendous hardships when their crops are damaged, but our farmers are a resilient lot and despite all the challenges and tribulations they have faced and are facing they have dedicatedly stuck to their tasks.
And it is because of their sacrifice, dedication and resilience that the rice industry has rebounded from a near state of collapse to a once again vibrant industry to the point where we are having record-breaking figures for rice production, as over the last two years production of rice has exceeded the unprecedented 400,000 tonnes.
Therefore, our farmers must not be allowed to suffer indignity and disrespect at the hands of rapacious and unscrupulous millers. On the contrary, they should be accorded the highest respect and appreciation for their significant contribution to putting food on our tables and economic growth and advancement.
Consequently, one would hope that this new company would not become “the new broom that sweeps clean” and would then revert to the behaviour of its predecessor.

The company hopes to start purchasing paddy from as early as next Monday, in order to commence operations as early as possible; and although SeaRice is not yet in possession of a licence to operate, the government, particularly the Agriculture Ministry and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), have promised to facilitate issuance of a licence once all liabilities have been liquidated.

According to the company’s General Manager, Mohamed Ali, SeaRice has already paid off its liability to the government, and soon will also pay off that owing to farmers; hence, the company is in the process of applying for that licence. He stressed that the company should have no problems acquiring same.

He also emphasised that the former situation involving MRL and rice farmers would not be allowed to occur with SeaRice.
He pointed out that SeaRice has owned 50 percent of Fairfield Rice Mill for some 14 years, and there has never been any such issue.
Guyanese, and especially rice farmers, are anxiously awaiting the operation of the rice mill under the new management. But in our Guyanese parlance, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.