–Food Security Bill also in the works, Attorney-General says

AMENDMENTS to the decades-old Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Act will soon be made to ensure better protection of rice farmers across the country, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, S.C. has said.

Nandlall, during a recent edition of “Issues in the News,” said several consultations with both rice farmers and millers have encouraged authorities to make minor changes to the act next year.

Established in 1958, the Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Act, is a piece of legislation that provides better security of tenure for tenant rice farmers, to limit the rent payable for the letting of rice lands and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

“We are going to do amendments to the Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Act which is another piece of important legislation for our farmers. There are different defects with this law that we have identified decades now,” Nandlall said.

He added: “It’s a law that was passed since 1958. And really we didn’t look back at it and we are going to make some minor corrections. We have consulted with the rice farmers and millers and they are all supportive of the amendments.”

Additionally, Guyana will soon see the tabling of a Food Security Bill in the National Assembly, the Attorney-General said.

He related that with Guyana leading the efforts to reduce the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM’s) food-import bill by 25 per cent in 2025, the country will need to establish legislation to be a key player on the international market.

“Food security, that’s a big area that we are moving into. You see our agriculture sector is taking off. You see many arrangements being made with us and the rest of the Caribbean. We have to prepare Guyana now, legally, to export food, to process food and to manufacture food, in keeping with international standards, so you have our food safety legislation and a Food Security Bill that we are working on to get us to that place where we want to be,” Nandlall said.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Agriculture held its first introductory workshop with key stakeholders to allow for the imminent enactment of the legislation in Guyana.

Once the Food Security Bill is passed in the National Assembly and assented to by the President, Guyana will be the first English-speaking country in the Caribbean to have food security legislation.

At the opening ceremony of the workshop held back in November, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative to Guyana, Dr. Gillian Smith, said that, while Guyana is close to self-sufficiency when it comes to food production, the country lacks the laws to ensure that produce meets the nutritional needs of Guyanese.

On this point, Dr. Smith said: “Globally, we are talking about food systems and being able to ensure that those global food systems that we have are meeting our nutritional needs, and that it is not reducing the natural resources that we have, and that it is resilient to shocks. This is a very important and progressive way to ensure that we are always sitting at the front of the cutting edge.”