Low rice prices amid oversupply sowing disquiet

– New markets, more domestic use among options to address issues – VP

In light of the recent uproar over the low price being offered by millers for paddy, at a time when there is an oversupply of rice in the local market, the Guyana Government is currently working out possible interventions to support farmers.
Among the options being considered to address this situation are having additional markets absorb the increasing yields, and pushing domestic use of locally-produced rice.
“We have to find more markets, because our production is expanding. We have to find more markets that are better remunerated [paid], you know, higher prices. The world market prices came down for rice, and we have to promote more domestic use of the rice. Also, for industrialization, because you can use the rice to do a number of things for more value-added activities,” Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo declared at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
Earlier this week, rice farmers in Black Bush Polder (BBP), Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), blocked sections of the main access road at Lesbeholden in protest over the low price being offered by millers for paddy amid an oversupply of rice in the local market.
Jagdeo has assured that Government is working on a solution for farmers.
“We’re working now, this year again like we did last year, to see what additional assistance we [can offer], because the prices came down slightly. We’re working now directly, and we’ve already started crunching numbers to see what could be done for this crop. So, soon the rice farmers and the rice millers are gonna hear from us on that matter,” he told <<Guyana Times>> at his press conference.
The local rice industry is projected to grow by 12.4 percent in 2025 with a production target of 804,000 metric tonnes. However, rice prices have been falling on the world market, and are predicted to fall even lower this year. With increased yields and low market prices, the Vice President believes that one way to ensure rice farmers make a profit is through Government’s continued assistance with some of the input costs, like fertilizers and pesticides, along with drainage and irrigation support.
For the first crop in 2025, more than 72,000 acres are currently under rice cultivation in Region Six, and this is expected to produce in excess of three million bags of paddy.
Millers have indicated they would be offering $5,000 per ton of paddy when harvesting commences. In 2023, millers in Black Bush Polder and on the Corentyne were offering $4,500 per bag of paddy. That price was offered in 2024 after Government removed the sales commission paid by millers.
However, rice farmers in Berbice are now demanding a higher price this year. They have staged a protest on Tuesday outside of a mill at Lesbeholden, and calling for Government’s intervention.
According to Jagdeo, Government is currently engaging millers on this matter.
“Right now, we’re working in the Government on some arrangement, [and] hopefully we’d be able to get the prices back up. We’ve been talking to the millers, and we will come with some initiative, which we will unveil shortly,” the Vice President stated.
Leakha Rambrich, president of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), has said there are not enough mills in Region Six to take off all the rice that would be produced this crop. He has said that, countrywide, Guyana is expected to produce in excess of eight million bags of paddy this crop.
“There is no way that the mills in the country will be able to handle all of that. They do not have the capacity to take off all that paddy,” Rambrich has said.
Moreover, the RPA president noted that 90,000 tonnes of rice are still in the system from the last crop, and markets have not been secured for that.
Guyana currently exports to Europe more than 65 percent of the rice produced locally, but exporters are finding it increasingly difficult to penetrate that market because of a certain chemical used by some local farmers. Although the chemical is banned locally, some farmers still acquire and use it illegally, resulting in rice so produced being rejected by the European market.
During Thursday’s press conference, VP Jagdeo dismissed criticisms from the Opposition camp about the issue with the rice farmers, reminding that it was the APNU+AFC (A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change) regime that had sidelined the industry while in office by saying rice is private business.
He recalled that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration had to undo all of the Coalition’s acts that stifled the rice sector, including spending billions of dollars on drainage and irrigation; investing in farm-to-market access roads; reversing taxes for land rentals; removing taxes on pesticides, fertilizers and on machinery and equipment; giving out seed paddy to farmers; and offering them support during incidents of flooding, among other interventions.
Jagdeo said “It’s downright laughable” now that persons from the opposition would sympathize with rice farmers and say that they’re being neglected by the PPP/C government.