IT IS just over a year since it was built in support of value-added in the rice industry, but the $100 million rice cereal factory at Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast is sitting idle while the rice industry declines.Although completed, it is not clear if the building housing the factory is equipped to carry out the work it was intended to do.
On a recent visit to the facility, the Guyana Chronicle observed that the building was tightly closed, and even though there was a guard hut, no one was inside.

Close to the factory, inside the compound, a family with several children squats. They laundry their clothes and hang them out to dry on the front fence of the factory. This newspaper was told that the family was there since the former administration was in power, and the Ministry of Communities was written to regarding their relocation, but a response has not yet been received.

The Guyana Chronicle was unable to verify whether indeed a letter was sent to the Communities Ministry regarding this matter, but some rice farmers who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle on condition of anonymity believe that the rice cereal factory is turning out to be a white elephant.

Former President Donald Ramotar had launched the factory with great fanfare on March 21, 2015, but senior Region Two officials seem to know little about the facility. Region Two Executive Officer Rupert Hopkinson told the Guyana Chronicle he knows that the factory exists but knows little else; while Regional Chairman Devanand Ramdatt said that when he took over the chairmanship of the region, he neither received nor saw any project document on the factory. He also never requested a briefing from former Chairman Parmanand Persaud.

Persaud was described by a few regional and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) officials as having been a very lax chairman, and it cost him his post after the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
Several calls to Persaud for a comment went unanswered.

WE NEED IT
Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt said the region needs the factory now more than at any previous time, given that the rice industry is in decline, with falling prices being offered for rice and paddy.

“It (Region Two) needs to embrace agro-processing, and the factory will do just that,” he said.

The Chairman said he had, one month ago, written Agriculture Minister Noel Holder — on the instruction of councillors following a meeting — requesting a status update on the multi-million-dollar facility, but has received no response from him.

Several calls were placed to Minister Noel Holder, but his cellphone rang out.

Should the factory become operational, it would reportedly create more than 100 jobs through both direct and indirect employment.

Ramdatt said unemployment is a major issue in the region, and making the factory operational would help to ease the problem. It was explained that when the sod was turned for the facility, the factory was touted to produce food at the very basic level, and most of the intended markets were to be local, in the Caribbean, and further afield.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) had reported that, when completed, the facility would have had the initial capacity to process 2,000 tonnes of rice per year. It was being built in such a way that if its target market grows, it could easily be expanded to utilise 30,000 tonnes of rice annually.

Some observers had hailed the factory as a great foresight of the PPP, contending that they (PPP) saw the lucrative rice deal with neighbouring Venezuela was on a slippery slope and its continuation was not guaranteed.
Because of this, a means had to be found to diversify, and encourage more value-added activities in the rice sector.

On the other hand, some were not at all enamored about the factory, holding the view that it was a PPP gimmick to appease rice farmers, since it was constructed close to the elections and the PPP knew that rice cereal was tried before and had failed.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the factory was supposed to produce rice cereal branded “Morning Glory”, but its operation is yet to see the light of day.