GRDB to assist low-producing rice farmers to increase yields

…farmers laud Govt’s drainage initiatives

The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) was instructed to work with low-yielding rice farmers throughout the country in order to help them achieve greater harvests next crop.
GRDB Director General Madanlall Ramraj tasked the Board with this new undertaking during a Field Day at Cane Grove, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD) earlier this week. He indicated that while some farmers are producing up to 60 bags per acre, some are below par with 45 bags per acre. This is while using the GRDB-60 paddy – a superior variety in the country.

“While we are having farmers producing 40, 45, 50 and in some instances 60 bags per acre, this farm is about 45 bags per acre we estimated today. This is a premier variety – the GRDB-60. It means that there is still a lot of work to be done,” Ramraj explained.
As a result, he highlighted that for the low-yielding farmers, a comparative analysis must be prepared in order to increase production across the country.
“I’m tasking the GRDB and every extension officer must work with one low-yielding farmer across the country from the land preparation to do a comparative analysis and work with them to ensure that their production increases at the end of the crop,” the Director General posited.
With this being addressed, Ramraj pointed to the paddy bug issue – a persistent challenge in recent years. For this, the official said a long-term solution must be found.
“We have yet to completely address the paddy bug issues. While the damage has been between two to three per cent in some regions; in Region Two, it is about 13 to 15 per cent damage. Farmers still are suffering from the existence of paddy bug. Years come, years ago, we are still to have a concrete way of addressing it. We have to come up with the plan,” the Director General stressed.
Government has maintained that it intends to double rice production within the next five years and has been working with farmers to improve their production with improved infrastructure and technology over the past seven months.
Ramgolam Singh, a rice farmer from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), credited some of his success to the massive amount of drainage and irrigation works that has been done since the new Administration took office.
“Over the last six months, there has been a mass improvement in drainage and irrigation. If you go in every area in our Region, whether Black Bush Polder or 52-74 Crabwood Creek, in the front lands, there are several machines…We are seeing a lot of improvement under this new Government because of their commitment to producing food to feed the nation and internationally. Already we are seeing that the price for paddy has gone up a little and the millers in Region Six have upped their price from $45,000 per tonne to $50,000 per tonne,” Singh said.
Some farmers from Region Two, however, said that they had yet to achieve these quantities, but remain optimistic that with good crop husbandry, this could be achieved.
While offering remarks, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said he was pleased with the reports of the high levels of production in most of the rice-producing Regions. The Minister also said that Government would continue to work with farmers to improve their cultivation and production levels.
“We at the Ministry are working to have consistency in our yield levels across the country. We must not have an average of 50 bags per hectare in one Region and then 20 bags in another Region. We must refocus our efforts to ensure we employ the kinds of agricultural practices required to achieve higher yields. Government will also continue to give funds for more research in the sector. If we want to achieve these higher yields, we cannot continue to do things in the same way,” he encouraged.
Farmers were told that the management of the GRDB was being revamped to better serve their needs and those of other stakeholders of the sector. Mustapha also instructed the Board to procure portable moisture testing instruments to carry out on-the-spot testing of paddy, after farmers continued to complain of unfavourable moisture readings for their paddy at the mills.
Noting the success and importance of the event, Minister Mustapha also charged the Board with executing three additional field day exercises before the end of the current crop.