Flood assistance will help rice farmers out of disaster – RPA President

− 50,000 acres of rice lands affected by floods

The recently announced financial assistance and other support for farmers, especially those in the rice sector will go a long way in helping revive these individuals from the devastating losses that they incurred from the recent floods.
This is according to President of the Rice Producers Association (RPA) Leakha Rambrich, who lauded the Government’s multibillion-dollar relief package for flood-affected farmers across Guyana. On Saturday, President Dr Irfaan Ali announced more than $7 billion in financial assistance to various categories of workers with a large chunk of the monies going towards the rice industry along with other support measures such as paddy seeds for planting new crops and drainage and irrigation works.

In reaction to this, the RPA President said these reliefs are welcomed and will benefit in excess of 2000 rice farmers across the country who have suffered losses due to the unprecedented floods that affected an approximate 50,000 acres of farmlands in all 10 regions in Guyana.
“I think this is a significant help to farmers, which will help rice farmers in a long way to sustain themselves and their families until they are able to go back into the next crop,” he stated.
According to Rambrich, that process will be greatly assisted with the 60,000 bags of paddy seeds that will be distributed ahead of the next crop to enable farmers to go back into the fields.
“We are hoping that [with] this assistance, farmers will make much out of it. And I want to, on behalf of the RPA, thank the Government and the President for this great initiative. The step that they have taken is indeed a great move to help and to bring farmers out of this disaster that they have faced. As you all have known that flood has had a severe impact on the lives of all the farmers throughout this country,” the RPA Head noted.
Rambrich went on to outline that while almost all of the various economic sectors in Guyana were impacted by the floods, the agriculture sector was the most impacted with most if not all crops destroyed and livestock lost.
The PRA President disclosed that throughout the country, only 56 per cent of the lands were cultivated, while in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) farmers were only able to cultivate 60 per cent of the lands. He added that Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica) were not heavily impacted by the floods.
As such, majority of the assistance especially for rice farmers would go towards farmers in Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Six (East Berbice Corentyne).
“The 20 per cent seed paddy that Government will be giving to farmers is a significant contribution to the industry. I feel that with that 20 per cent intervention and with the acreage that has been cultivated… the seed paddy that will be given will target the farmers who suffered losses… But Region Five and Region Six are the two regions that are highly affected. So that paddy will actually be coming to areas where it is more needed,” the PRA President pointed out.
However, one bag of seed paddy is needed to cultivate one acre of rice.
With this in mind, Rambrich explained that in order to cultivate 100 per cent of the available acres in the country then approximately 232,000 bags of paddy seeds would be needed. The 60,000 bags that the Government will be distributing across the country only accounts for about 20 per cent of this.
Meanwhile, for the 65,000 acres in the East Berbice-Corentyne region, a corresponding 65,000 bags of paddy seeds would be needed. Similarly, some 110,000 bags of paddy seeds would be needed to fully cultivate the 110,000 acres of farmlands in the Mahaica-Berbice region.
Only Monday, President Ali disclosed during a press conference to mark his one-year anniversary in office that the distribution of the flood relief would commence later this week.
The financial assistance announced Saturday will see more than $3.2 billion going to rice farmers alone. Farmers will get $80,000 per acre for rice that was ready to harvest but was lost in the floods; $65,000 per acre for rice sowed and lost in the autumn crops; and $45,000 per acre for land that was completely prepared but was not sowed.
Combined assistance for homestead farmers, kitchen gardens and households totalled $3.5 billion, while another $600 million will be directed towards the livestock industry benefitting subsistence, small, medium and large-scale farmers. In addition, $500 million was earmarked for a series of works and services to be done by the Guyana Livestock and Development Authority.
However, it was announced that whilst some large rice and poultry farmers were affected by the floods, the assistance to individual farmers would not exceed $10 million.