Wakenaam rice farmers await March payments

Rice farmers who live and operate on Wakenaam Island, Essequibo River are still to be paid after three months for the paddy they sold in March to a miller who converted their product into rice.
Guyana Times previously reported that the farmers were desperately trying to repay loans taken to procure fertiliser, fuel, and equipment.
According to information received Sunday, a ship bound for Mexico arrived in Guyana as scheduled and the miller was poised to begin receiving payments. However, some farmers said that they were yet to collect any money. Nevertheless, they remain hopeful that they can receive the outstanding funds within the coming days.
Withholding such payments to farmers for more than 42 days is in violation of the Rice Factories (Amendment) Act of 2009.
The law stipulates that farmers need not wait longer than the mandatory 42 days before being paid for their paddy. According to the Act, the manufacturer (miller) is required to pay the paddy producer (farmer) half the amount due that farmer within two weeks of receiving that farmer’s paddy and the remainder of the liability must be liquidated within 42 days of the parties signing the agreement of sale for the paddy.
However, there are times when farmers wait several months and sometimes even more than a year to be paid off for their paddy.
The Wakenaam farmers highlighted that they owed the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for fertiliser taken on credit. In this arrangement, farmers are to repay the Agriculture Ministry’s sub-agency at the end of the crop.
The system was designed to assist members of rice farming communities who had encountered financial difficulties.
Nevertheless, GRDB officials have, within recent weeks, visited farmers on the island and the default of loan payments was discussed. The farmers were given more time to pay for the fertiliser they acquired.
This newspaper was told that farmers are contending that depleted funds were preventing them from sowing the next crop on schedule. Financial difficulties, they contend, are also affecting their ability to acquire the necessary equipment and chemicals needed to produce the crop.
Meanwhile, the Rice Producers Association (RPA) on Saturday accused the GRDB of failing to honour its financial obligations to several rice millers despite having the resources to fulfil those payments.
This newspaper was told by an RPA representative that some debts go back to August 2017.
“The GRDB should pay the millers, so that farmers can receive 100 per cent payments. The GRDB have the capacity to make the payments,” the RPA observed.
The Association said that the non-payment not only affected the operations of the millers but it has a profound impact on the farmers.
Before the cancellation of the PetroCaribe (rice-for-oil) deal by Venezuela in 2015, farmers were obtaining premium rates for their paddy crops. Under that arrangement, farmers accrued some $9000 per bag of paddy, but this was subsequently reduced to between $1800 and $3000 per bag, depending on location.