Dear Editor,
KINDLY permit me space in your newspaper to express my dissatisfaction with the labelling of seed paddy being sold to farmers by the GRDB Burma Rice Research Station. The seeds do not have the requisite label with the necessary information on the bag. The bags have some things written on it with a marker. Anyone can write anything on the bags once they have a marker and dupe the farmers.
This has been happening for some time now under the leadership of Dr. Mahendra Persaud. The allegation is that the leadership of the Burma Rice Research Station chooses to bypass this step in the processing and packaging of the seed paddy for the reason of passing off low-quality seed paddy and paddy that does not fully meet the required standards to farmers.
Farmers who purchase paddy from the Burma Rice Research Station in the last crop can absolutely corroborate the fact of the quality of paddy received. The time has come for the GRDB board and the Minister of Agriculture to take steps to ensure that the seed paddy sold to farmers meets the quality standards before being sold and seed labels must be stitched in the lid of the bags the essential information (Year and Season Grown, Class of seed, Variety, Weight, % Purity, % Other Crop seeds, % Inert matter, % weed seeds, Origin , % Germination, Date tested etc.) so that farmers can know what they are paying for is what they getting in the bag and not buying ‘pig in a bag’ like in the last few crops.
The seed quality standard protocol that oversees the labelling of seeds is one that is known and being used by seed-production agencies in other parts of the globe and must be adopted here in Guyana.
Regards
Terry Ross