FARMERS in Region Two have commended President, Dr Irfaan Ali on his recent announcement to make available over $1 Billion worth of fertilisers to farmers across Guyana. Both cash crop and rice farmers have applauded the President’s initiative and deemed it “a big relief”.

President Ali, on Monday, had announced that the government will be purchasing and distributing, free of cost, $1 billion in fertilisers to farmers all across Guyana as a means of absorbing the rising global costs for the commodity and to prevent the costs from being passed on to consumers at the market.

The $1 billion will be drawn from the $5 billion the government had set aside in the 2022 national budget to implement measures to ease the cost of living for citizens, which is caused by the external economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine. The announcement was one of four measures that were announced by President Ali on Monday in a video message aired on his official Facebook page.

President of the recently-formed Essequibo Rice Farmers Development Committee (ERFDC), Deoram Prahalad, praised the move by the government as helpful.

Recently, Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo met with rice farmers on the Essequibo Coast to listen to their concerns and suggestions to address them. During the meeting held at the Anna Regina Multilateral School, the farmers raised a number of issues affecting them such as the high cost of input, even though the government, since coming into power, has removed VAT on those items.

The farmers also provided a number of solutions, some medium-to-long-term to lower operation cost and increase their income. Among the solutions was the dredging of an area in the Essequibo River to enable them to directly ship their rice and paddy from the Essequibo Coast. That they believed would minimise the cost they currently pay for shipment and enable them to earn more for their produce.

EASE THE BURDEN
ERFDC Vice-President, Tabindra Ramcharran, said the intervention announced by President Ali will ease the burden of many farmers.

He noted that once a farmer does not have to pay for fertiliser, then more will be saved. Representing other rice farmers, Ramcharran said the offer had come at an opportune time because rice farmers in Region Two will be sowing in two weeks.

“Some rice farmers already started but some will start sowing in two weeks so I am hoping that the fertiliser reaches them before so that they can save; once the operating cost is less then rice farmers will be able to get more from the crop and be able to provide for their families,” he said.

Sancharee Narayan, a cash crop farmer from Golden Fleece, is hoping that the fertiliser trickles down to small farmers. Narayan cultivates a plot of land at Zorg. She said the community has a lot of cash crop farmers who are excited, having heard the President’s announcement.

In the Pomeroon River, Gladis Williams from Jacklow Lower Pomeroon said that the initiative was “a good one” and the farmers in Pomeroon were waiting on their turn to receive the fertiliser.
“The flooding has affected many of our crops, some of us are going back to cultivation and some of us are still recovering from the loss; we are thankful for every effort made by the government to assist Pomeroon farmers,” Williams related.

Farmers in the region are anticipating the rollout of the distribution of fertiliser as soon as possible as many of them are currently sowing and heading back into production after being affected by floods.