Guyana secures fair price for rice farmers, $4,000 minimum per bag agreed

Guyana: After weeks of negotiations between President Dr Irfaan Ali, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Rice Development and local rice millers, an official agreement was signed on Tuesday that will see rice farmers getting no less than $4,000 for each bag of paddy for the first crop of this year.  

The development was shared by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha during an official meeting with rice farmers from Mahaica. He told the farmers that the President had engaged the rice millers on different occasions after farmers raised concerns about the prices bring offered for paddy for the present crop.  

According to the Minister, the millers were reluctant to maintain the last crop’s price because they said that it was being influenced by the world market price but at present they are finally able to reach an agreement where millers cannot purchase the paddy for less than $4,000 each bag.  

Also, President Dr Ali during his address at the Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony noted that rice production in Guyana has increased significantly and that the government has now been investing to enhance the infrastructure and support enhanced production while easing the burden on farmers. 

He emphasized that the agriculture sector of Guyana has achieved major milestones and rice production has expanded with over 227,000 acres under cultivation producing over 600,000 metric tonnes every year. The President added that more than $70 billion has been spent on improving infrastructure. 

Agriculture Minister further disclosed that for the first crop of this year, around 230,000 acres of land was cultivated and around 9,000,000 bags of paddy are anticipated to be harvested. He added that rice production for the year is anticipated to be 804,000 metric tonnes.  

He also informed the farmers that the government has been making the required investments to transform the agriculture sector and added that this PPP government has never abandoned or even neglected the local farmers.  

Last year also, rice production surpassed its target and reached an all time high of 725,282 metric tonnes which represented a record breaking milestone in the sector.