MINISTER of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has expressed his disappointment over the continued protest actions by some Region 2 rice farmers, since the ministry has made public the support mechanisms it is seeking to implement to bring immediate resolution to the issues affecting them.

Among those to be addressed include challenges of non-payment from millers and damage to their crop due to bug infestation.
In the first instance, the millers in the region have been having some difficulty meeting payment to the farmers due to the delayed shipment of rice to Venezuela. Minister Ramsammy explained that the Agriculture Ministry is working with the Finance Ministry, the banking associations and the millers to resolve this issue.
“We recognise that this problem is not because of anyone being unscrupulous or anyone trying to be unfair; we recognise that the millers have a genuine difficulty in meeting the payment to the farmers,” he said. The minister explained that the ministry has been exploring two possible solutions; one of which is to see if “we can work with the bankers association so that the bank could provide a more extensive overdraft facility for the millers.”
The second solution is to try to advance some of the payment to the farmers with the ministry standing the cost now, and recouping this payment from the millers, following the shipment of the paddy to Venezuela. “In this way, we can pay some of the farmers directly, not all of the money, but a part of the money, until such time as shipment is made to Venezuela,” Minister Ramsammy said.
Meanwhile, with regard to those farmers who have suffered damage due to pest infestation, he said they legitimately deserve some help, and the ministry has been public in its announcement “not yesterday and not last week, but for several weeks now since it first arose.”
These farmers would be provided with seed paddy free of cost and this will allow them to begin their second crop. In addition, the ministry has also pledged to provide these farmers with fertiliser, he said. “Having being doing all of this, I am still disappointed that some farmers in Region 2 have not listened to any of these things and they keep protesting,” he said.
The farmers’ action seems to be aimed at politicking what is an easily resolved issue, he said, and the ministry has sought to avoid just this from day one.
“The fact of the matter is, again, in spite of my sending officers to explain the situation on Wednesday, some of these rice farmers took to organising a protest yesterday, and have invited politicians,” he pointed out.
The farmers refused to listen to senior representatives of the ministry, including Permanent Secretary George Jervis and Quality Control Manager, Ms. Allison Peters, along with General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj, and General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Jagnarine Singh who on Wednesday met with them in Region 2 to inform them of the steps being taken to address their concerns.
The Minister urged both APNU and AFC to stand in solidarity with the Government and the ministry on this issue. “I am urging my political sisters and brother to desist from politicising this problem; this makes it more difficult to resolve,” he said
The minister remains committed to his meeting this weekend with the farmers, a meeting that has been in the pipeline since before Wednesday’s protest.
Thus far, those with problems number 75, according to Minister Ramsammy.