…sends 100,000 tonnes of rice seed to twin-island republic
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has revealed that Guyana is helping Trinidad and Tobago develop their rice sector through technical support.
During a telephone interview with this publication on Sunday, Mustapha said technical officers in Guyana are advising Trinidadian technical officers on the best practices used in order to grow rice successfully.
The Minister also shared that about two months ago, Guyana supplied Trinidad with some 100,000 tonnes of rice seed, which was distributed among local rice farmers in the country.
T&T Minister of Agriculture Kazim Hosein, centre, and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Avinash Singh, right, show farmer Zahir Akaloo the high-quality rice seeds (Photo: The Guardian)
“[We are offering support on] things we do in Guyana. Our technical officers [are] giving basic advice [on] how to go about getting the nursery back in order and ensuring that the seeds germinate at the same time. They [Trinidad and Tobago] have shared it [the rice seeds] out amongst farmers and our technical officers are now briefing their technical people on how to get the farmers to do best practices and so,” Mustapha told this publication.
It was previously reported by the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian that rice farmers in southeast Trinidad, who had previously shut down their operations, are interested in re-entering the ind
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha
ustry and are seeking the Government’s help to do so.
Trinidadian Agriculture Minister, Kazim Hosein had distributed 200,000 pounds of high-yielding, disease-resistant rice seeds to farmers at the National Seed Bank in Chaguaramas earlier last month.
One farmer, Outam Ramnarine, told the Guardian that many rice farmers could not operate because of delays in getting payments from the National Flour Mills, before the COVID-19 pandemic. He said farmers had loans with the Agricultural Development Bank and because of soaring prices of fertilisers, delays in payments, and high operating costs, they had no choice but to shut down operations and seek alternative employment.
“Farmers need support to get back into the industry. Because rice was no longer sustainable, we started using our land for other crops. Other people just abandoned the fields while others planted rice only for home use,” Ramnarine explained.
Rice Fields in Guyana (Tassia Dickenson Photo)
Meanwhile, large-scale rice farmer Zameer Akaloo, who also benefited from the rice seed distribution, expressed satisfaction that the industry was being revitalised.
“This is definitely a step in the right direction,” Akaloo said, noting that one of the major issues they faced was the lack of research in new rice farming techniques.
“We have no research in Trinidad concerning rice and getting good quality seeds from Guyana is a good start for us. We need technical information and research behind it. We asked if the Guyanese rice breeders could come to Trinidad and do a crash course with farmers on the new available technologies,” he added.
The rice seeds were purchased by the Government and were supplied by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). Minister Hosein said the project was aligned with a Caricom initiative to reduce the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025, promoting food and nutrition security in the Region.
“The fact that this initiative aligned perfectly with this anniversary suggests some form of providence, and I remain confident that we will successfully revitalise the sector,” Hosein said, emphasising the significance of the rice distribution project within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Guyana and T&T in July 2022. The MoU outlined collaboration areas, including rice, aquaculture, livestock production, and coconut.
He assured the Government’s commitment to revitalise and modernise the rice industry, aiming to reduce reliance on international markets.
