Millers reduction of paddy prices: Difficult to find perfect resolutions – Ramjattan

…suggests Govt converts rice export taxes to subsidies to millers

Contending that Guyana cannot risk losing its food security amidst rising cost of living, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has called for subsidies to cushion prices for rice farmers.

Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, on Thursday highlighted during a press conference that if Government were to reduce or eliminate the levy per tonne of exported rice that is paid, rice exporters would be eased from the high costs currently borne to continue production.
“They’re (exporters) saying that their shipping and wharfage costs alone have gone up plenty. And that it could be reduced if the Government takes off the US$8 per tonne of rice exported. It is called the rice levy.
“In a moment like this, just like they’re bringing down the fuel costs or attempting to bring it down, we want them to drop this levy. It can help the exporters and also rice millers,” Ramjattan pointed out.
To directly address concerns of the millers, the AFC Leader suggested that Government use this levy, which is currently paid to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), to create a subsidy. He underscored that the country cannot risk having farmers off the fields.
“The cost in relation to the rice millers, we’re saying that it will help if you create a fertilizer subsidy that either comes from the GRDB monies that they have banking up from the $8 that is collected over a decade. All of this can go towards creating a subsidy for farmers, because the worst thing that can happen to Guyana is if the farmers come off the farms. It is going to be a hell of a thing, and we don’t want that for rice farming. That is our staple. That is what is going to feed this country and create food security,” he explained.
Nevertheless, Ramjattan recognised that in a situation where the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war is playing out, it is difficult to find perfect resolutions to mitigate the ripple effects.
He noted, “It is always going to be difficult for a prefect resolution to a problem of inflation, as is happening here. This thing has interconnected this with the international repercussions of COVID and a war that is going on now.”
Among the recommendations was one that the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) create varieties which yield higher bags per acre, and another is for long-term consideration be given for a fertiliser plant to be set up in Berbice.
Government has commenced consultations to determine what measures would be employed to expend the $5 billion that was set aside in the 2022 budget to mitigate the effects of the global rising cost of living.
Several farmers have complained that they are dissatisfied with the price given for a bag of paddy, since it is quite costly to cultivate rice.
Responding to their concerns, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has said the Agriculture Ministry is constantly engaging suppliers to reduce the cost of fertiliser, so that farmers can have more money in their pockets.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, has also reminded that Government has taken an approach that sees market conditions setting the prices for paddy.
Over the past two weeks, rice farmers in both Berbice and Essequibo took to the streets, calling for millers to pay better prices per tonne of paddy.
Last week, scores of rice farmers on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) staged a picketing exercise at the Anna Regina High Bridge, calling for better prices for their paddy. This move came days after farmers in Region Six had taken to the streets to also call for millers to pay more per tonne for paddy.

APNU/AFC on rice
In July 2015, after the APNU/AFC took office, the then President, David Granger, during an address to stakeholders at a National Rice Industry Conference, had said that “rice production is a private business.”
“We do not wish in the administration to usurp the role of the Private Sector. Rice production is a private business, and we support private enterprise. The administration does not want to bail out the rice industry. We don’t want to become a banker for the overdraft exporters and millers. Our role is to establish a framework to provide a level playing field so that the industry can prosper,” the then Head of State, under whom Ramjattan, was a minister, had said. (G12)