THE Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) has announced that despite the challenges facing the industry, some 500,000 tonnes of rice, valued US$178M was exported last year.

According to Board’s Quality Control Manager Allison Peters, notwithstanding the El Nino weather conditions and other deterring factors, rice performed fairly well in 2016.
She noted that last year, Guyana was able to tap into the Venezuelan market through private investors, which led to the exportation of 7,000 tonnes of rice to that country.
In addition, The Bahamas was added to the list of exportation in December 2016, taking one container of white rice.

This deal, the manager said, is one which sends a positive message to the rice industry. Guyana is also expected to get a slice of the Mexican market very soon.
Jamaica continues to be one of the largest importers of rice from Guyana, importing a total of 29,594 tonnes of rice, valued at $2.5B during the period January-July 2016.

Prices for rice nevertheless continue to fluctuate due to the volatile global market.
Though the GRDB was able to record some successes in 2016, it did not come without challenges.

Extension Services Manager Kuldip Ragnauth said because of the El Nino weather conditions, water was not available in the first half of 2016 and the initial target of 225,000 acres was revised to 213,000 acres of cultivation.
Notwithstanding the dry weather, farmers were only able to cultivate 189,000 acres of lands but lost four per cent of that.
“Based on that, rice production would have been reduced based on that cultivated acreage… we were only able to produced 264,000 tonnes of rice as opposed to achieving our initial target of 328,000 tonnes,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the second crop also decreased in the acreage cultivated, because of rainy weather conditions that came in April and May, which prevented all acreage from being harvested.
“The El Nino period had already caused damages to dams and access ways to the field, therefore, when the rainy season kicked in, it was even harder to access the fields,” said the Extension Services Manager.
In spite of these challenges, Guyana was able to produce 534,000 tonnes of rice in 2016.
With 2016 behind them, Ragnauth said that 2017 has started well, with everything moving along as per normal.

In the first crop, some 210,000 acres of land will be cultivated and so far, dry land preparation has been achieved and the land will be sown.
The majority of the regions have already completed over 80 per cent of the sowing, with Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara being the first to fully complete their area.
There have been heavy rains over the past few days but Ragnauth said, “it is too early to say that the rain will cause losses… for now we are getting good drainage at the moment and if there are losses, they are expected to be minimal.”

This year, the GRDB will be exploring new markets, with the hope of achieving a premium price for their produce.
It was reiterated that millers who owe huge sums of money to rice farmers in 2016 will not be granted operating licences until a legitimate reason is given, or the farmers are paid.