Dear Editor,

IT IS sad to read in today’s Stabroek News that “Paddy bug infestation in Region Two requires urgent intervention, according to Regional Chairman Mr Devanand Ramdatt”. He emailed the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Noel Holder, about the situation, but did not receive a reply. Anyone who is a rice farmer would tell you that paddy bug infestation can destroy your entire crop if it is not taken in hand as early as possible. The minister must understand the seriousness (of the situation): when a farmer cultivates his crop and goes through a lot of expenses, his ultimate goal has always been to maximize his production effort.

When I read these things, I am reminded of when I was a rice extension officer working in the rice industry with the late Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh. He was a man of action in times like these, when the farmers’ crops were being threatened by paddy bugs’ infestation. I remember paddy bug was rampant in Region Two, and the farmers couldn’t control the bugs. The former vice chairman, Mr Vishnu Samaroo, sent a letter to Minister Satyadeow Sawh appealing for his help, the minister agreed to meet with rice farmers at the C.V. Nunes Primary School. I was asked to chair the meeting, and used a public address system on a vehicle from Charity to Supenaam to invite the affected farmers. I was at the time working with the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA).

At the meeting were the honourable Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh; the General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board, Mr Jagnarine Singh; Vice Chairman Vishnu Samaroo, and a bug expert from Trinidad. The hall was packed with rice farmers from Charity to Supenaam.

The minister and his team wanted to hear suggestions on how to combat or minimize the bugs. The question of aerial spraying came up by the farmers, but because of the housing location, animals grazing within the rice areas, and the use of the water by people living behind the main canal, this did not find favour with the team.

It was agreed to purchase a large quantity of drugs and give same to the RPA to sell at a subsidized costs. This helped the rice farmers to increase their spraying, and the bugs were controlled.

The government can use this method, since the rice farmers are breaking even at the going paddy prices at the moment. What I have noticed is that the bugs have become immune to the drugs because of the constant spraying and the killing off of the beneficial insects which protect the paddy at the milking stage. The bugs have a way, after the crop is being reaped, to migrate into the savannah, where they will multiply by the millions and will come out when the paddy is drawing the milk, and feed on it. It is not that easy to conquer the paddy bugs, but it can be minimized by constant spraying.

Poor sanitation around the fields encourages the bugs to enter the field, they will also live in the clogged up drainage and irrigation canals. The GRDB should start a training exercise to educate the farmers how they can avoid bug infestation.

The year–round favourable climatic conditions in Guyana, which is a tropical country, support the continual survival and proliferation of paddy bugs’ population, with consequential yield losses and poor quality of grains, government’s intervention would always be needed.

In an effort to protect rice crops from destruction, farmers in the past had used traditional (non-chemical) methods. However, farmers are now fighting the battle with chemical pesticides (agrochemicals) These are applied to crops from germination right through to harvest time, very often with little or no knowledge of the effects of these deadly substances on human health and the environment.

Most rice farmers rely on chemical control for reducing pest populations, ignorant of, or in favour of, the other methods like IPM, recognising the many challenges facing the rice farmers, where man-driven interventions may not always be enough to save crops, especially in instances of unpredictable weather patterns, resulting in bug infestations which often decimate large acreages of cultivated fields. Early bug-sweeping by extension officers is very vital to know the bug population in an area or in the field, so GRDB and the Ministry of Agriculture can act quickly. Proper management, strategic intervention and efficient action can prevail over the various anomalies within the rice industry.
Regards,
MOHAMED KHAN