Berbice rice farmers still battling paddy bug infestation

By Andrew Carmichael

Rice farmers continue an uphill battle to ward off paddy bugs – a major infestation that has previously resulted in millions of dollars in losses.

The infestation of paddy bugs has always been one of the major problems rice farmers suffer and has on many occasions been very difficult to control.
Throughout a crop, farmers would normally be able to control all other pest and diseases which may confront them but when it comes to paddy bugs, it is described as one of the major players as far as pests.
This is according to President of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA) Leaka Rambrich.
Rambrich, who is also a rice farmer, said that somehow this crop, farmers in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) have been able to control the infestation.
He told this publication that as soon as the crop commenced, he sprayed all the dams in the vicinity of his cultivation with chemicals to kill the pest.
“During the early stage like about 30 to 35 days, I saw paddy bugs by the thousands on the dams, so I went and sprayed all the dams and I was able to have minimal damage due to paddy bugs because I killed all of the bugs on the birdseed grass.

Rambrich, however, noted that the infestation of paddy bugs is not that alarming.
In Region Six, one per cent of the crop has already been harvested and some farmers are saying that despite the reduction in paddy bugs, they are spending thousands of dollars to control paddy bugs.
“During the early stages of the crop normally there is high infestation but as harvesting proceeds, you might see that the damage might drop to between two and five per cent,” the RPA President explained.
Meanwhile, Khomal Peraud Lalsorran, who cultivates 240 acres of rice, said one week ago there were thousands of the bugs on his rice but that number has significantly reduced over the past week.
Half of his rice is almost ready to harvest and he has been focusing his attention there. He pays an average of $45,500 in labour cost to keep the dreaded insects out. In addition to that, there is the cost for the chemicals used in the field.
Meanwhile, Deonarine Dindyal, who cultivates 200 acres, in comparing the current crop with the previous, said not that much is being done this time around to control the dreaded insects.

Referring to the previous crop, Dindyal noted that he had to be spraying for the bugs every other day but currently, he is applying the bug-killing chemicals once every five days.
“The spraying for the paddy bugs costing more than the cost for fertiliser.”
Rambrich said the $2.5 million which was being allocated to fight paddy bugs are far from adequate in a country which is producing over 90,000 hectares of rice.
“We need a comprehensive study of this paddy bug and this is what the Government needs to put in place.”

Rambrich said if they are not able to eradicate the bugs they must be able to have total control over the insects.
As such, he suggested a comprehensive approach.
“When we spray one time with a chemical, we should not be going back there in ten days if we are to say that we have ten days control with the chemical, but we are not having that. This is the problem farmers are facing. We can’t say if the chemical is poor or if the spraying that is being done is not the right spraying or the bug is dying and others are migrating. All these things we need to have a study of. I am lobbying for the Government to do a paddy bug programme, pattern it with the pink mealybug programme that we had. They need to put that into the budget; a $200 million programme and you will have a comprehensive study of the bug.”
Prior to 2015, the Government had budgeted $90 million for a paddy bug programme. However, the programme was scrapped with the change of Government.
“It was just on the initial stage of the study and they scrapped the programme. They did not see the need for the programme and that is why for the past five years we were having a high infestation of paddy bugs,” Rambrich noted.
During 2018 and 2019, rice farmers in the region had taken to the picket line, calling on the Government to introduce aerial spraying to control paddy bugs.
Rambrich said with the current Government showing more interest in rice and the interest of farmers than the previous Government, the RPA is lobbying for the paddy bug programme to be reintroduced.
There are about nine different species of the paddy bug. There is no current data to indicate which specie is affecting farmers the most. In addition, there is no data on where the bugs are when the crop is off.
Meanwhile, one analyst said that the reason for the high infestation during the last crop was because of the dry weather which caused the bugs to flee from the pastures since it offered nothing to them. However, with the rains continuing to fall, the grass in the pastures are providing some sustenance for the bugs which will prefer to feed on the young paddy grains.