Govt assists affected WCD farmers to harvest rice crops

…daily assessment requested by Agriculture Minister

Rice farmers on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD), who have been affected by inclement weather conditions, will be assisted in harvesting their crops that are beyond the yield date.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Thursday led a team to assess several rice cultivation areas in Windsor Forest, WCD. The visit was a follow-up meeting to President Dr Irfaan Ali’s engagement with farmers this week, where several issues were highlighted.
Alongside him was the Director General of the Agriculture Ministry, Madanlall Ramraj; General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board, Badrie Persaud; and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), Dr Dwight Walrond.
Due to the inclement weather, several farmers have been unable to harvest the remainder of their paddy, and for some farmers, the harvesting date for the crop has passed. As such, the Minister informed that officers from the GRDB will conduct daily assessments of the affected plots, after which a decision will be made on how they can be assisted.
“We want an update every day. At end of it, hopefully within a week or two, we can get out the rice. Based on what you get out now, I want to know what is the yield. This goes from Blankenburg all the way,” Mustapha told the farmers.
In the rice sector, over $100 million has been spent to improve rice yields. Additionally, support in pest control has been provided to farmers, while the Agriculture Ministry also marked the milestone of the Value-Added Laboratory becoming operational in March 2022.
The Government is aiming to ramp up rice production from 560,000 metric tonnes to 870,000 metric tonnes by 2025.
Back in September, Chief Scientist attached to Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Rice Research, Dr Mahendra Persaud had positioned that rice production in Guyana has the potential to earn 50 per cent more profits for farmers.
Guyana’s rice production stands at just under 600,000 tonnes annually. In 2020, the country produced 687,539 tonnes of rice and 559,789 last year with the yield averaging 5.6 tonnes per hectare. The GRDB in its annual report referred to last year’s yield of 5.5 tonnes per hectare as being excellent.
For last year, Guyana harvested 861,214 tonnes of paddy producing 559,789 tonnes of rice and exported 435,421, netting US$201 million.