FARMERS involved in planting aromatic rice in collaboration with Nand Persaud and Company Limited in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) have been assured that they will be paid 20% more than the price paid for other varieties when the spring crop is harvested early next year.Nand Persaud’s CEO, Rajendra Persaud, told the Guyana Chronicle that the company was convinced that the aromatic rice, named Maria’s Delight, launched by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) earlier this year, has great potential in the export market.

He said the company had recently exported a small amount of aromatic rice to overseas buyers, and those buyers had expressed satisfaction with the rice, and have indicated a desire to purchase more when it becomes available.

“This reception to Maria’s Delight is what gave us a great deal of encouragement to go ahead and enhance the potential of this variety,” Persaud said. He said the company is starting from the spring crop with 500 acres that will be made available by farmers to whom the company had given seed paddy for the cultivation of this crop.

“They have gone ahead and planted with the guarantee that they will be paid 20% more than the price paid for other varieties,” he indicated.

Additionally, he said, the company is starting on a small scale with production of the aromatic variety, but expects to expand as it acquires more markets for this popular rice.

“We don’t want to go overboard and encourage everybody to plant Maria’s Delight and then find that we don’t have a market, or markets, to take off these large amounts (of rice).

“But we are starting small and, hopefully, will get bigger and bigger as the market expands,” he disclosed.

He also said he is hoping that a few glitches in the variety will be ironed out. “There is a little challenge with the variety in the sense that there are times, most noticeably in the autumn crop, when the variety produces chalky grains. We have reported this to the GRDB’s research station, and they are looking at it. I just hope that, along the line, we can iron that out.”

Maria’s Delight was developed by the GRDB’s Burma Rice Research Centre (BRRC), and was launched in February last. During the launch, Dr Mahendra Persaud, the BRRC Chief Scientist, had reported that the aromatic rice was high-yielding, giving up to 45 bags per acre; that it was robust and resistant to lodging; that it had excellent milling and cooking qualities; and that there was uniform expression of the aroma.

Most importantly, he said, aromatic rice is a high-priced item on the international market.

“We can very well say that the progress we are going to make in aromatic breeding, and how well we are going to market it internationally, could be crucial factors in how the industry performs in the coming years,” he said. According to him, the price of aromatic rice on the international market is usually more than double that paid for other varieties.

According to Rajendra Persaud, in preparation for the spring crop harvest of Maria’s Delight, the company is investing heavily in a new area for the receipt and drying of the aromatic rice, since this variety cannot be received in the same facilities as the other varieties.

“We are building a whole new rice mill to cater for the aromatic rice, so that it remains separate from the other varieties,” Persaud said.
By Clifford Stanley