“Tremendous improvement and increase” in rice production – Agri Minister

The rice farming sector in Guyana over the years has been continuously breaking production records. This steady growth has been attributed to a number of initiatives undertaken by the Agriculture Ministry and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), particularly the implementation of several high yielding varieties.
On Monday, several officials from the Agriculture Ministry and the GRDB among others gathered to launch a new high-yielding rice variety known as ‘GRDB 18,’. Speaking at the launching ceremony was Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who highlighted the steady increase of production the rice industry has seen over the years.
“Prior to 2020 August, we used to get an average, or reap an average around 36 bags. And that was the high end, right? The high end 36 bags per acre. Today, the average is between 40 to 42 bags per acre. That shows that we are increasing and when you look at some other holdings around the country, other farmers holdings, who are doing best practices, and who have high increase in production, some of them are reaping almost 52 bags per acre.”
The Minister further revealed that to date, rice production per hectare has surpassed the 6 tonnes mark. In this regard he challenged stakeholders to continue raising the production bar, as the Government plans to produce some one million tonnes of rice by 2030.
“But when you look at the average, we have seen tremendous improvement and increase in production. We have moved production from 5.9 tonnes per hectare to between 6.6 to 6.7 tonnes per hectare. I am hoping by the first crop of next year we can move that to 6.9 tonnes per hectare. And I’m challenging the rice resource station that we must work towards this. The Government’s policy is that by 2030, we must be a large producer of rice.”
Also present at the event was General Manager of the GRDB, Badrie Persaud, who echoed similar sentiments. He revealed that the Government’s plan for the rice industry is to increase the current yield to eight tonnes per hectare, currently some regions are already producing a whooping seven tonnes per hectare.
“We’ve made significant progress in improving the rice industry, those of who would’ve listened to the president address to the parliament, he said by 2030 the target is for us to increase our rice yield to eight tonnes per hectare. While our national average production yield is 6.5 tonnes per hectare, there are areas that are doing 7 tonnes per hectare.”
In this regard the General Manager revealed that the new ‘GRDB 18,’ will produce an average of seven to nine tonnes per hectare, which will significantly improve the national average production yield.
“Now today we gather to commission a variety that may take us somewhere along achieving that target of eight tonnes per hectare because if you look at the data behind me, the potential for this variety is seven to nine tonnes per hectare.”
Meanwhile, earlier in August Guyana Times had reported that Guyana’s rice sector has generated a whopping US$127 million already for the year due to an increase in production. This increase was attributed to the use of several high yielding varieties of rice by commercial farmers. According to the Agriculture Minister, over the last few years some nine high-yielding rice varieties were released for commercial production boosting productivity and sustainability of the rice industry. The exploration of new rice varieties and export markets aligns with the Government’s commitment to advancing the agricultural sector and ensuring sustainable development.
In 2023, the rice sector recorded an increase of seven per cent with a production of 653,706 tonnes. This signifies an increase of 43,111 tonnes in 2023 as compared to 610,595 in 2022. Guyana earned approximately $45.2 billion in exports in 2023, over $3 billion more than in 2022. This year, $1.3 billion was budgeted to be expended by the GRDB to support increased production and productivity of the rice industry.