By Navendra Seoraj

THE recent rice deal between the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Mussons, and the Jamaica Rice Milling Company Limited (JRMCL) can prove to be a plus for Guyana’s rice industry, said GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan.Over the past few days, the agreement was heavily scrutinised by the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association (GREMA), which said in a statement that, “the agreement recently signed between Mussons and JRMCL and the GRDB would effectively limit importation of rice into Jamaica to these two Jamaican companies.”

The GRDB General Manager, during a telephone interview, contested that view, noting that, “any company can export to and import from Jamaica, meaning buyers and sellers who meet the GRDB’s criteria will not be hindered in any way, nor will it limit importation into Jamaica to two Jamaican companies.”

Securing this agreement with the Jamaican companies, he said, is a boost to the rice industry, given that in the past there were many cries for rice markets.

In 2015, Jamaica imported some 48,000 tonnes of rice from Guyana, and according to the agreement between the companies and the GRDB, both companies have agreed to import 80,000 tonnes of rice from Guyana.

The companies have also consented to purchasing a tonne of rice at US$400, as compared to the average price of between US$345 and $370 per tonne.
“Therefore, at this rate of sale, both farmers and millers will benefit from the agreement, since there has been an increase in the price per tonne of rice. This will also decrease the cases of non-payment by millers to farmers,” said Hassan, as he expressed his enthusiasm for the project.

GREMA has, meanwhile, expressed grave dissatisfaction since that body was never consulted on this agreement, and was made aware of it only after it had been signed by the parties concerned.

“While we have voiced our concerns about this, the GRDB, to date, continues to negotiate with these two Jamaican companies without our involvement, although in the end it is not the GRDB that produces and sells the rice, but local rice millers and farmers”, a GREMA statement has said.

That statement is being seen as contradictory, as the Government was called on several times by millers to assist in acquiring markets for rice.

Hassan also highlighted the fact that, prior to him signing onto the agreement, the Chairman of the GRDB, Claude Housty, along with other stakeholders, were consulted on the move.

He also acknowledged that Section 41 of the GRDB Act makes it clear that persons seeking to export paddy or its by-product have to submit to the board a contract for approval before doing so, and he affirmed that the GRDB has never acted outside the law.

However, “this agreement in its present form and the contracts that millers are being required to sign with these two Jamaican companies would result in our rice industry being in a worse financial position than it had been under the old free-market system. This will not only negatively affect millers, but also impact negatively on the livelihoods of our local rice farmers,” lamented GREMA.

Regardless of the positive factors listed by Hassan, the GREMA members are still of the opinion that this agreement should be cancelled for the good of the industry, and GREMA is seeking government’s intervention to help in resolving this situation as soon as possible.