‘Utter ignorance’ – RPA on EPA’s call for rice farmers to stop burning fields

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered rice farmers to desist from burning their fields – a crucial practice in the cultivation of this important crop – is grounded in ignorance, says President of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Leakha Rambrich.

The burning of rice fields is a crucial aspect of rice cultivation. It is done to prepare the soil for another crop. Farmers say while other methods are available, burning is less time-consuming and labour-intensive but more importantly, burning helps to better control weeds and pests.
The EPA has ordered rice farmers to desist from this practice. In a notice published on March 27, the EPA said farmers must discontinue burning practices since burning may cause wildfires.
According to the EPA, farmers should transition to alternative methods for field management including manual removal or ploughing the fields.
The EPA has also outlined that though burning may return some mineral elements to the soil, it results in the loss of most organic material and nutritional content of rice straw.
Moreover, it said repetitive burning in specific locations can damage soil layers, particularly the surface layer, impacting its physical and chemical properties.
The agency also argues that burning releases significant air pollutants such as particulate and specifies some of them. The agency noted that the release of such pollutants can adversely affect human health by impairing lung function, exacerbating respiratory diseases, and causing discomfort for individuals with allergies.
However, the rice farmers are not in agreement with the EPA and are pushing back.
Dannyram Persaud, a rice farmer from Number Naught Village Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) said the directive from the EPA is just like instructing them to stop planting.
“Without burning the field, we can’t go back in. There is no way that you can prepare the land without burning. If you pump water into the land and start ploughing then the water would become ‘lease’ and rice can’t grow on ‘lease’ water,” he said.
Former President of the 52-74 Water Users Association (WUA) Neazam Rajab has also contended that most rice cultivation areas are far away from residential dwellings.
He also asks about the burning of cane by Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) saying they too should be stopped. “I don’t see the burning of straw as being an environmental problem.”
Rajab said it would be very difficult to replant on a field if it was not burnt. “So we have to burn it but the rice cultivation area is way in the backdam, is it an environmental problem?” he asked.
He said if the burning of rice straw is an environmental issue, what about flaring about other activities associated with the extraction of oil?
“How much carbon is going into the environment, isn’t it not damaging the environment? Which one produces more tonnes of carbon? The EPA has to give us a better reason why we should not burn the straw other than it is not healthy,” he argued.
In addition, President of the Rice Producers Association Leeka Rambrich says the EPA order is grounded in ignorance.
“The EPA has to take into consideration the fact that the rice industry has been here for over 120 years and Guyana has been exporting rice for over 105 years. We have been burning straws since the inception of this industry. While I understand that the burning of straw is not good for the environment you have other countries that have been producing rice long before Guyana and they burn straw.”
He noted that India which is currently one of the world’s largest rice exporting countries has been burning rice straw. “When they are burning, the entire province is affected by smoke.”
Rambrich said he agrees that Guyana will have to implement first-world standards, Guyana is still a third-world country and cannot be expected to reach first-world standards in a day.
He called on the EPA to implement strategies that will result in them working with farmers to have them understand the benefits of implementing alternative measures.
“We don’t have winter so we have to bail straw and keep it,” he said.
“We have enough arable lands that our cattle can go and graze. It is only now because of the dry weather that we are bailing some straw but as soon as the rain starts and the grass starts to grow that would be history,” the RPA boss pointed out.
“The EPA has to come up with sensible solutions to this problem. It seems that the EPA wants to close the rice industry. “
He pointed out that the government has been investing in the local rice industry and is aiming for the country to produce one million tonnes by 2027.
“I am highly disappointed with the EPA to come up with something like this. Look at all of the developed countries that are burning straw; even the USA. It is unacceptable; we would not accept that. Utter ignorance. Give us a solution to the problem. Set an example by starting with those who are damaging the eco-system more than we are and deal with them first,” Rambrich said.