-President Ali announces

FUNDING has been secured by the Government of Guyana to now provide just about 6,000 rice farmers with insurance, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has announced.

“We are writing ink on paper, not only ready to give 6,000 rice farmers insurance over the next two years in a phased way, but I got the funding to give them that insurance.”

This comes after rigorous discussions and deliberations with several financial institutions and firms.

According to President Ali, the agreement was not without its challenges. During the discussions, many institutions indicated concerns about climate vulnerability.

But it is for this exact reason the government has been pushing for a mechanism that can safeguard farmers in the event of a climate crisis.

The government for the past three years has been engaging firms to establish an insurance mechanism.

“When the world doubts us, that is more exciting because we are energised to prove the naysayers wrong,” Dr. Ali added.

Back in 2021, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had declared Guyana to be in a state of disaster by virtue of the ongoing flooding at the time.

In June of that year, a total of 28,228 households were affected by flooding, some with water entering their homes, domestic animals and livestock in distress, or farmlands inundated.
The floods, caused by heavy rainfall, resulted in some 300 communities being directly affected for a protracted period. An assessment showed that the agriculture sector was most affected, with some 92,000 acres of farmland completely affected, and approximately $23 billion or more in loss of production.

The sugar industry suffered estimated losses of more than $1.5 billion in the fields, while more than 50 per cent of mining operations were affected.

The rice industry had seen the loss of approximately 50,000 acres of produce with more than 2,000 farmers affected. Some 2,000 livestock farmers were also affected.

The National Assembly subsequently approved a supplemental budgetary allocation of $10 billion to provide immediate interventions to farmers and other citizens who were gravely affected by the floods.

Farmers within the context of a homestead received $100,000 each; those with kitchen gardens received $50,000 each, and households excluding homestead and kitchen garden received 50,000 each.
Other support in the form of seeds, tools and other incentives was provided to farmers.
The supplementary fund for flooding had also facilitated the execution of critical emergency repairs to a number of public infrastructure such as roads and bridges that had been destroyed by the unprecedented levels of floodwater.