THE Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) has given assurance that it is pursuing aggressive marketing strategies to facilitate export markets for the abundance of padi produced in recent crops and the anticipated yields from the current spring crop.

The marketing challenge includes finding buyers for 150,000 tonnes of padi brought forward from the autumn crop of 2014 and the anticipated bountiful harvest expected from this current crop, Mr. Madanlall Ramraj, Deputy General Manager of the GRDB has reported.
He said that increased production and productivity in the rice industry has put extra pressure on the GRDB to continue finding high priced markets.
He said that the Haitian market can absorb about 300,000 tonnes, but the price is very low and the Board always tries to find markets that will benefit farmers.
Some of the aggressive marketing strategies include trying to sell much more paddy and rice to current preferential markets like Venezuela and traditional markets within CARICOM and further afield.
Others include concluding updated marketing surveys, contacting millers, contacting suppliers, attending trade fairs in the Diaspora, attending international rice conferences and forging bilateral partnerships as exemplified by the arrangement with Venezuela.
Ramraj noted that one of the difficult challenges facing the rice industry is the problem with pre-shipment and post-shipment financing
He said: “What is happening is that tomorrow farmers will deliver paddy to the mills but what happens is that it takes four or five months sometimes for millers to sell the paddy so they can pay farmers.”
He said: “As a result very often you hear that farmers are not being paid in time which prevents them from going back to the land at the appropriate time or applying all the fertilizer regime that is needed for the cultivation.”
He added: “I know the Government and GRDB and the RPA will continue to work on these areas; to address the issues; to look at how best we can continue to pursue all the angles and avenues we can explore in terms of financing for the rice industry.”

By Clifford Stanley