– Agri. Minister affirms that rice is priority for Guyana

GYANA’S newest rice variety, GRDB16, has the potential to increase Guyana’s rice output significantly as the government looks towards using this crop to help ensure the country’s development.

On Saturday, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha officially launched GRDB16 at the Burma Rice Research Station in Mahaicony on the East Coast of Demerara.

According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, this variety of rice has the potential to produce up to 60 bags per acre, which is equivalent to an average of nine tonnes per hectare. The GRDB16 has already demonstrated several qualities that have been desired by rice farmers for a number of years.

At the launch, Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Chief Scientist Dr. Mahendra Persaud said that with this new variety, Guyana’s rice-productivity levels will increase tremendously.

According to the release, Dr. Persaud said that Guyana is part of a small group of rice producers which can produce over six tonnes per hectare

“I would like to see our productivity increasing constantly, hopefully achieving seven tonnes per hectare in the coming years. This candidate variety that we are launching today has demonstrated a good partnership between the researcher and the farmer, because without the farmers we couldn’t have achieved the type of results that we have today,” Dr. Persaud said.

He also spoke about the need for new varieties in order to improve the production levels of the farmers. According to him, there has been a 50 percent increase in productivity — from four tonnes per hectare in 2005 to six tonnes per hectare in 2019 — at the farm-level. This, he said, illustrates that farmers and the research station have been working adequately.

Earlier in the month while the variety was still considered a candidate variety, Minister Mustapha along with a team from the Ministry and the Rice Board, visited one of the demonstration plots in Region Three to get a first-hand look at the performance of the variety while under cultivation.

During that tour the ministry noted that the GRDB16 had the characteristics of a premium game-changing variety which maintained its greenness throughout the crop, didn’t lodge as fast as the other varieties and can come through standing water of up to nine inches. It was also noted that GRDB16 takes only 110 days to reach its maturity stage.

For the past 15 years GRDB has been releasing new varieties of rice to farmers, each demonstrating improved characteristics over the previous one. To date, GRDB has released nine varieties, each variety having higher yields than previously released ones.

Rice Producers Association representative Leakha Rambrich said that it is important for farmers to understand that while GRDB16 appears to have great potential, farmers must allow the variety to work its way up into the system.

The ministry’s release said that farmers who attended the event all shared that they were eager to have seeds for this new variety to commence their first crop of 2021.

One farmer, who reportedly travelled from Wakenaam, said that he was impressed with GRDB15 and after hearing about the qualities of this new variety, remains optimistic that this new variety will boost his production significantly.

RICE IS NICE

At the launch of GRBD16, Minister Mustapha emphasised that rice, and agriculture by extension, is important to Guyana’s development.

“Rice remains a strategic part in government’s plan for prosperity. Given the annual contribution to Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), we can see that you, the rice farmers are making a tremendous contribution to the development of our country, that which amounts to about $46.7B of foreign exchange in our country,” Minister Mustapha said.

“The importance of this industry cannot be emphasised enough, and rest assured that the government will not in any way, shape or form turn away from the rice industry.”

He also gave the assurance that the government will provide a favourable environment and grant special incentives for all investors in the rice industry. Transfer of technology, support for research and developing working relationships are also priorities.

The release also stated that Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Madanlall Ramraj, highlighted that Saturday’s achievement has put Guyana’s paddy and rice in a position where it is able to compete with other major rice-producing nations across the world. He encouraged the scientists to continue on their quest to deliver varieties that have a tolerance for soils that have moderate salt levels, among other things.

Meanwhile, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Country Representative in Guyana, Wilmot Garnett reportedly disclosed that the organisation has been working closely with the research arm of the GRDB to develop a bio-fortified variety of rice, a first in Guyana and the Region.

“Dr. Persaud and his team have done quite a bit of evaluation and so far we have some very good candidates. With the current pandemic, global health officials have been recommending that persons take their vitamin C and their Zinc. Now you can have it in your rice,” Mr. Garnett said. “We’ve seen where precision agriculture has become the new norm as Guyana continues to modernise its agriculture sector and certainly demonstrate leadership in the Region and elsewhere.”