AGRICULTURE Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy says that harvesting of the first rice crop for 2013 is well under way with approximately 2,000 hectares already reaped.

In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Minister  Ramsammy  disclosed that some 82,000 hectares or approximately 202,000 acres of rice have been cultivated, representing the largest single crop acreage in the history of Guyana.
He noted that Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) has the largest amount of land under rice cultivation with more than 32,000 hectares, followed by Region 6(East Berbice/Corentyne) with approximately 23,000 hectares.
He related that farmers are now at the stage of reaping, which has started early for the crop. He added that the reaping will accelerate and by the end of this month more than half of the rice crop would have been reaped.
Ramsammy pointed out that the current crop was under some stress due to dry weather and a lack of irrigation water in January, but most of the rice was saved although there were some concerns that there would be some impact on the yield.
He stated that now that the rice is being harvested, they will be looking for indications of impact on the overall crop and especially the yield.
Region 2 ahead
However, he highlighted that Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) is leading in the reaping with approximately 1,300 out of the 2,000 hectares reaped so far in that region, and “from all indications the yield on the Essequibo Coast in Region 2 will be excellent.”
He further disclosed that the yield thus far in that region is approximately six tonnes per hectare. In addition, he said that the small amounts that have been reaped in Regions 3 and 4 (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands and Demerara/Mahaica, respectively) also show very good yields with an excess of five tonnes per hectare.
He also related that Regions 5 and 6, with the small amount of reaping that has been done, is averaging approximately 4.6 tonnes per hectare.
While the minister pointed out that this is traditionally the yield obtained in those two regions, he stressed that they were the most affected by the dry season, adding that it is difficult to say whether the dry weather has had any significant impact.
“It could have been that given all the conditions that Regions 5 and 6 would have seen an improvement of yield in excess of five but the dry weather may have worked against those regions. We’ll have to wait for the next crop to see,” he said.
He further explained that while Regions 5 and 6 have similar yields to what they had the last crop, measures were taken to improve the yield but  it would be difficult to say whether the dry weather prevented that improvement.
However, Ramsammy emphasized that even with that yield, the overall  indication is that the 206,000 tonnes of rice that have been targeted for this crop will be easily surpassed.
In addition, he said that famers are already looking forward to the next crop and some have already begun to prepare, adding that the next crop may even exceed the 82,000 hectares of this crop.
The minister pointed out that farmers are now begging to sell paddies to millers, which is a situation that has to be monitored.

SeaRice Caribbean
He alluded to a deal which has just been closed by SeaRice Caribbean Guyana which has successfully acquired the assets of Mahaicony Rice Mills Limited (MRL) by repaying monies owed by that company to the government and rice farmers.
However, he said that this situation is not yet totally resolved, noting that 116 farmers have been paid by SeaRice but in the process it was discovered that there are other farmers who were not on the list.
He stressed that he is going to work with SeaRice to see how the problem can be resolved and he will instruct the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) to work with farmers to prevent the problem of outstanding payments to farmers.
Ramsammy added that while farmers should still be flexible, millers must pay them within a reasonable time which is stipulated in the Rice Act of Guyana.
Meanwhile, he also mentioned that Guyana has had an agreement with Venezuela, which is currently the country’s largest rice importer. This agreement, he said, will be continued in 2013.
“Venezuela is now busy with elections…hopefully the elections will not defer too long the signing of the 2013 agreement but we will continue to ship our rice to the various places,” he said.