–receipt proves RPA tried to sell them bad seed paddy

GENERAL Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Nizam Hassan has described as “desperate”, an alleged bid by General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj to discredit the agency.

What’s more, he said, it’s also an attempt to score cheap political points at the expense of local rice farmers.

Hassan’s comments comes in the wake of his receipt of information disproving statements being peddled by Seeraj about the GRDB selling farmers what he calls “failed-seed paddy”.

According to a release from the GRDB, Head of the Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) Rice Farmers Association, Nauth Ram, is currently making representation on behalf of several farmers who were sold seed paddy, more particularly the GRDB 10 strain of the grain, by the RPA.

Ram, who is also the region’s agriculture coordinator, said that contrary to what Seeraj told the National Assembly recently, it was not the GRDB’s seed paddy that failed to germinate, but rather the one sold farmers by the RPA during the last rice crop.

“Farmer Seecharran, of Land of Plenty, visited my office and reported that he purchased 63 bags of ‘10’ paddy from the RPA, and after sowing, he found that none had germinated,” Ram said.

He said that after the farmer raised the matter with RPA officials, they promised to look into it and even visit his farm but never did.

Ram said: “I reported the matter to the Quality Control Manager, Ms. Allison Peters and she intervened. And I was promised by the RPA that someone will visit the farmer. I was also promised that the seed paddy would be replaced, but as far as I know, the farmer is still waiting.”

EMPTY PROMISES
Another farmer, one Indarpaul Babulall, said he is still awaiting his replacement paddy from the RPA, after being promised same since the first crop of 2018.
“I bought 36 bags of paddy from the RPA,” Babulall said, “and I set de paddy fuh shy. And when I ready fuh shy, me see ‘bout 90 per cent ah de paddy nah germinate.”

Babulall said that he, too, raised the matter with the RPA, and that they did send someone out to his fields to see what was happening; and that after they were satisfied that there was indeed a problem with the paddy, they promised to replace it during the next crop.

Unable to wait that long until the RPA could make good on their promise, Babulall said he was forced to scramble for seed to sow his land and ended up planting late with dire consequences.

He said: “All now I ain’t get back no paddy from the RPA, and is hard fuh just leh $160,000 guh down de drain. I really hoping deh either give me back my money, or de seed paddy; it ain’t fair to me.”

Last Thursday, Seeraj, in a bid to support his claim that the local rice industry was in trouble, told the National Assembly that rice farmers on the Essequibo Coast had been sold bad paddy by the GRDB, causing them to lose millions of dollars.

The GRDB has said in its release that a visit to the region on Friday by a team of officials from both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Board has revealed a different story. And this is because the team could not find any farmer who could corroborate Seeraj’s claims.

What they found instead was that farmers were loud in their praise for the work being done in the region by GRDB extension officers, through the provision of quality seed paddy and extension services.

In addition, rice farmers Deoraj Jaikarran of Golden Fleece and Ganesh, known as ‘hassa’, both were loud in their praise of the quality of paddy supplied to them by the GRDB.

One farmer named Ganesh, or “Hassah”, said the only time he has ever had a problem with germination this year was when he bought paddy from the RPA.  He, too, is still awaiting compensation by way of seed or cash, and is contemplating legal action if the RPA fails to act.

He said that gone are the days when farmers were willing to be mum and suffer in silence, and that while the GRDB still has a long way to go where ensuring that farmers’ livelihood are safeguarded, they have done a remarkable job at ensuring that the industry continues to thrive.

“We will not sit here and say everything is good and well within the industry, because every day there is changes which we have to adapt to. Climate Change is one such challenge,” ‘Hassa’ said, adding:

“However, the GRDB has been, and continues to be, steadfast in its efforts at providing a good life for all of our farmers and their families, and it continues to show annually, in the form of increased production and productivity.”

In closing, the GRDB has issued a call for political maturity, since the rice industry is a major contributor to the country’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).