– GRDB to roll out new FAO project

AS the harvesting season for the second rice crop progresses, farmers from across the country are reaping the fruits of their labour and so far harvesting is 42 per cent complete, standing at 227,793 tonnes of paddy.

This was according to Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, during his address to the gathering at the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB)’s Open Day at GRDB’s Rice Research Station, on Thursday.

The target for the second crop was initially 85,000 hectares, but it was revised due to the fact that the rice sector had surpassed its target of 88,500 hectares for the first crop. GRDB projected a total harvest of over 500,000 tonnes of paddy at the end of the second crop.
“Average rice yields have constantly been growing in Guyana…in 2018 our farmers recorded six tonnes per hectare, a five per cent increase from 2015 which was 5.5 tonnes per hectare and a 37 per cent increase from 10 years ago which was 4.2 tonnes per hectare,” said Holder.

Such increases in average national rice yields are not by coincidence, he said, adding that it is due to government’s commitment to the overall expansion of the industry and specifically, to investments in research and development.

Rice is the staple food of more than half the world’s population. It contributes to food security and the health of the nation. And in spite of many commercial options, many still rely on agriculture and specifically rice for their income.

In Guyana, rice is an important source of livelihood. Approximately 6,020 farmers produce rice in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six, and there are there are 43 licensed rice millers and 22 registered exporters of rice.

Rice accounts for 3.3 per cent of Guyana’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 20.5 per cent agriculture GDP, and is, therefore, one of the most significant agriculture industries.

According to Holder, in 2018, Guyana produced 627,105 metric tonnes of rice and exported 75 per cent of this amount, 470,313 metric tonnes, amounting to US$186M in exports and at August 2019, Guyana has exported rice commodities to the value of US$148M. More so, Guyana exported approximately 14 types of rice and rice by-products.
General Manager of GRDB, Nizam Hassan, said the performance of the rice industry shows that research has been useful and successful.

He said the board has been working on production-oriented research which includes strategies for managing pests and so forth.

“We have also started to work on downstream processing or value-added processing…we have been exporting rice as a commodity… we also export branded rice, but we must look at using rice as an ingredient,” said Hassan.

Among the efforts to improve production, is the rolling out of a Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)-sponsored project which will run for two years. The project is geared at strengthening rice production monitoring in Guyana.

According to Hassan, the project is two-fold and for the first part will include the design of an upgraded and digitised system to monitor rice production.

“We are hoping to digitise and get real-time data on what is happening in the industry… extension officers, who visit farmers, will have smart equipment to take data and upload it,” said the general manager.

In addition to implementing and establishing new technologies, the GRDB will also conduct a value chain assessment of the rice sector, as part of the second objective of the project.
The assessment will include an in-depth analysis of supply and demand, and it will also analyse the gaps and challenges for diversification, all in an effort to increase profitability.
Heading into 2020, the GRDB, through its project, will be focusing on becoming more efficient and digitising the rice monitoring system.