– Agri. Minister commits to exploring options for assistance

RICE millers who have incurred millions of dollars in losses after Guyana lost the lucrative rice market in neighbouring Venezuela in 2015 are still seeking assistance from the government to offset their losses.

On Friday, a group of millers from Essequibo who have suffered over $800 million in losses, met Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha during his ‘Farmers Open Day’ meeting, seeking assistance. The millers explained that they had purchased large quantities of paddy with the expectation of exporting to Venezuela, but were forced to sell their paddy on the local market for less than half the cost they paid. This resulted in massive losses.

One miller, Ramesh Ramlakhan, lamented that despite selling his paddy at a loss he still had to service his bank loans.

“When we didn’t get those payments, we lost the capital, but we still owed the bank. Everyone that has a rice mill has an overdraft or a loan to the bank. There’s a commitment there where the bank is still charging us interest,” he was quoted as saying in a release from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Another miller, Wazir Hussain, said he is currently engaged in court cases with the bank for outstanding debts, following the losses he incurred from the collapse of the Venezuelan market.

“There was a quota system set up. If you purchased, for instance, 100,000 bags of paddy, 30 per cent would be shipped to Venezuela. The rest would be sold to other international markets. As it is now, it is very difficult,” Hussain highlighted.

Since then, he has been forced to attend numerous court hearings. He said that he is fearful of losing his premises if he loses his case in court next month. He also highlighted that he had 28 containers of rice that he delivered to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) in May/June of 2015, but he has not received payments as yet.

After listening to their concerns, Minister Mustapha said the government is aware of the issue and is examining ways to provide support.

“We’re looking at ways to help millers, both from the financial institution aspect and from the government level, but I cannot make a commitment today on what we will do. It’s a lot of money so as a government, we have [to] work on a mechanism to assist millers who were affected when the market collapsed under the previous administration,” the minister said.

The minister also noted that he has asked his officers from the GRDB to compile a list of all the millers who were affected and subsequently, he will meet with the Guyana Rice Millers’ Association to discuss this matter and a number of other issues. He also assured the millers that he will continue to engage the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, on a way forward.
Another concern raised by the millers was the sums owed by Panama for rice exported in 2018 and 2019.

Minister Mustapha informed the group that he is scheduled to soon have another meeting with the Panamanian Minister of Agriculture to get an update on the matter. He also said that the government has engaged international agencies to assist with recouping the funds owed.