Dear Editor,
I have read with disdain a letter captioned ‘State of the Rice Industry’, written by one Mrs Emily Lorrimer, in which the main object of the ad hominem attacks was on the agriculture minister.
This makes it evident that the letter was written by a person who has a personal axe to grind with the minister; and, as such, objectivity was completely lost, and this person has deliberately lost sight of the multitude of evidence which supports the progressive trajectory of the agriculture sector.
It is evident that the letter writer was doing a Rip Van Winkle during the tenure of the Coalition. But what is glaring is that this letter writer became active in the press from the beginning of 2025.
Every sub-sector has been improved significantly since 2020, due to proper strategic planning and implementation; resulting in increased yields due to innovative agricultural techniques, new varieties, new and non-traditional crops, new markets, and timely intervention to meet challenges by not only Mr Mustapha, but by the President and the Vice President.
In addition, adequate budgetary allocations and vital subsidies meet the needs of the sector, unlike what prevailed from 2015 to 2020 under the Coalition. During the Coalition’s tenure, allocations were cut drastically year after year; the rice industry was deemed to be ‘private business’; and entire communities were pauperized and devastated by the indefensible and spiteful closure of four grinding sugar estates. Emily was oblivious of these occurrences, and did not care.
The minister and his team can be seen in every farming community, always engaging the farmers, listening to their problems and resolving these in a timely manner. This minister knows no rest.
It is a pity that the writer failed to list the ‘failures’ being claimed: “it is one failure after another”, but she delved into 33 fallacious generalizations which do not support her argument. The writer unwittingly ignored the facts, which are so glaring. This kind of generalization hardly befits a proper argument to support the writer’s proposition.
Then the writer made some outlandish claims, wherein she misinformed the public. “I am advised that Mr. Mustapha instructed the Corporation to keep the crop open and pay the workers for coming to work, do nothing, and return the next day”.
This is pure trash. Workers are entitled to work according to the Collective Labour Agreement, and cane harvesters are not paid if they are not engaged in that job during the in-crop period. This proves the vindictiveness of the letter writer.
This minister has skilfully steered the agriculture sector from the depths of destruction to the heights of progress in less than 5 years. From COVID-19, through severe droughts and through devastating floods, every single challenge has been successfully managed through the astute and competent leadership of the minister.
There will always be challenges, but how these are managed is what is important.
Let the writer do some research on the many challenges agriculture faces throughout the world, and make a comparison to our situation. The writer should know that no sector except oil has grown and progressed more than the agriculture sector.
Moreover, budgetary and supplementary allocations to the sugar industry are to right a wrong which the Coalition committed on that industry, resulting in nearly 100 billion dollars in losses – fixed assets and cane fields and harvesting – not counting the loss in human capital, which has plunged the industry into its current labour crisis.
It would take a lot more investment to fully mechanize the fields in order to enable mechanical harvesting and bring the industry back to viability. This is no secret.
The minister has pledged in Parliament to right this wrong, and it is not expected that the results would be seen immediately. Investments in both the rice and sugar industry would take time, but success is guaranteed by the end of this year and within the next year. Even the Opposition are now promising to do better with rice and sugar, but we fully know from past experience what that means.
It is no surprise that the most successful sector is being singled out for condemnation. This reminds me of a quote, ‘No one pelts a green mango’. Naysayers are a fact of life.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
