GRDB owes $2.1B to rice millers – RPA

The Rice Producers Association (RPA) is accusing the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) of failing to honour their financial obligations to several rice millers, despite having the resources to execute those payments.
On Saturday, an RPA representative confirmed to Guyana Times that the payments are outstanding, adding that some of the debt goes back to August 2017.
“The GRDB should pay the millers so that farmers can receive 100 per cent payments. The GRDB has the capacity to make the payments,” the RPA said.
The Association said the non-payment not only affects the operation of the millers but rather it has a profound impact on the farmers. Just last week, it was revealed that an Essequibo-based miller owes several farmers on the island of Wakenaam.
The frustrated farmers informed Guyana Times that the miller has not paid them for paddy he had purchased since March, although he has already converted same into rice. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the farmers disclosed that having to go for months without payment has put them under grave financial strain, and they are now beginning to default on loan repayments, which is affecting their livelihood and sustenance.
Withholding payments to farmers is in contravention of the Rice Factories (Amendment) Act of 2009, which stipulates that farmers need wait no longer than the mandatory 42 days before being paid for their paddy. According to the Act, the manufacturer (miller) is required to pay the paddy producer (farmer) half the amount due that farmer within two weeks of receiving that farmer’s paddy and the remainder of the liability must be liquidated within 42 days of the parties signing the agreement of sale for the paddy.
Before the cancellation of the PetroCaribe (rice-for-oil) Agreement by Venezuela in 2015, farmers were obtaining premium rates for their paddy crops. Under that arrangement, farmers accrued more than $5000 per bag of paddy, but this was reduced to between $1800 and $3000, depending on location.
In 2017, Guyana secured a new rice deal with Mexico under a $3.8 billion contract that created a market for over 60,000 tonnes of paddy. The first batch was shipped in June of 2017.
In April, Essequibo rice miller Arnold Sankar won a $99 million lawsuit against the GRDB for its failure to pay for paddy it asked him to supply. In its award, the Court granted to Sankar the full sum of $99,670,273, which he lost as a result of the Rice Board’s breach of the paddy-supply deal.