Rice flour is a hot commodity with the exploding demand for gluten free products in North America, Europe and other parts of the world. It is also expensive and will most likely be a profitable venture. However, as soon as you mention rice flour, some people will start talking about Burnham's ghost still haunting them 30 years after he died.  

Saki, is an expensive drink, we can export to the Chinese and Japanese market. Like the saying goes" get lemon, make lemonade".

People without brains tend to brainstorm more often than usual.

Rice planting in Asia is huge,firstly Guyanese farmers have

to compete with the price,they are saying it's not

profitable.

Sometimes I feel, no matter what Guyanese rice farmers are paid, they will not be happy.

There seems to be little  harmony with some neighbouring growers. They tend to compete too much, instead of supporting each other, for better crops and prices.

The sugar industry seems to be the same. If  a gang worker is injured on the job, instead of gang members taking time off to give evidence for his worker's compensation, the injured man is told to continue working, until the end of the day.

This tend to fragment their effort for better health services.   

If you do a search here you will see I have been saying the same for years. There are  dozens of products made from rice that can b brought on line quickly. It is a matter of local entrepreneurial creativity.

Granger will rescue the industry, he is contemplating reintroducing the rice flower and other byproducts. In fact he has consulted with Viola Burnham via seance and has plans in hand, it is only left to implement. 

Trying out ideas that have been tried and failed is a silly approach to solving complex problems of economics and international trade. Tell Soldier Boy Granger to take a hike.

Price on sale US $2.79

You are now telling the gov't. to borrow tens of millions from the Chinese to build a stone mill flour factory. You playing with trouble now Django.

Private enterprise them bhai's in RPA can assist,

gov't got too much to chew on.

Why don't you get together some investors to make this happen? By the way, Guyana does not produce brown rice as per the package.

Pic was for example,they also sell white rice flour.

The multi millionaires in RPA can venture in to this.

So you are just an armchair quarterback like the rest of us? We have the luxury of virtual reality while business people have to deal with the consequences. 

The consequence is simple; if you want great tempura using rice flour is paramount. If one is afflicted with celiac disease, rice flour is salvation. Sake and rice wine vinegar have their unique position in culinary experience.

It is not about nonsense about reality vs fantasy except in your head. It is about the information on use of a produce that is dynamic and not confined to be use a mere grain meal. It is about exploring its use in fine cooking.

I own a small business for the past seven years,and deal with

a lot of consequences,adjusting to market trends that affect

the business financially.

I pinpoint Rice flour is marketable,in Guyana when they hear

that word,they say "oh me gaad they guh ban flower"i heard

that from a friend in Berbice,when Granger mentioned rice

flour.

Darn right it is! We've always used rice flour, potato flour,chick pea,spelt plus others I don't even remember at the moment.

There are the consequences.

1.  The rice industry is PRIVATELY owned.  It isn't a state owned corporation.

2.  State ownership and control of productive sectors NEVER works, with Guysuco being an example.

3.  Guyana is much less efficient in production of rice than are others, so cannot compete to get into most markets.

4.  Given that rice is PRIVATELY owned, either they improve their efficiency, find other products with higher margins, or be driven out of business.  If rice flour has higher margins, then that is what they will have to do, assuming of course that there is a market for the product.

 Source:  http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....nd-the-rice-sectors/

The government and the rice sectors

Over the past decade under the PPP, the productive sectors in the Guyanese economy were crippled.  We had bumper production in rice, but how productive was the industry?  The PPP did very little to improve productivity. If it were not for the lucrative Venezuelan market, the industry would have melted since 2008.
Last year, it cost on average G$1,700 to produce and deliver a bag of paddy to the mill.  The millers then offered on average G$3,500 per bag of paddy to the farmers.  If this paddy was shipped to Venezuela, the millers earn about G$8,650 per bag of paddy.  The bottom line was – because of Hugo Chavez, everybody made money in the rice sector and very few paid attention to improving its productivity.
Today, it still costs $1,700 to produce and deliver a bag of paddy at the mill gate but with a now dead “Chavista” deal, millers are now earning about 50 percent of what they earned in 2014.  As the pain trickles down, the farmers can expect about G$1,800 per bag from the millers. This is not good business for the small rice farmers and it means many of them will have no choice but to rest the land for the 2016 Spring Crop unless relief arrives. Horrible socio-economic situation.
We desperately need foreign currency from the rice export trade to continue to fund our imports.  With prices and export volumes both falling, the trade balance from the rice sector will deteriorate. This will have a direct adverse impact on our balance of payment, which will adversely impact the nation’s foreign reserves.
Can we afford this situation?  Not when there is the additional impact of some level of unemployment in the industry as a result of the small farmers resting their lands. Those who are lucky can utilize their six months visa as a mitigating strategy to ride this out, but that does not help the Guyanese economy.
Clearly, the economic impact of this situation is not a private sector affair but a national crisis since it will directly affect our GDP growth for 2015.  This rice crisis demands some State intervention to ameliorate the impending hardship that will visit the homes of thousands of small rice farmers in the upcoming months as many of them engage in a tryst with privation.
When the government was appointed, they appointed a new GRDB Chairman Mr. Claude Housty, and they sold him as an expert in the rice export market.  To date, he has not outlined his plans for the GRDB.  Included in the GRDB’s mission statement is the function “…to market rice….for international markets….while providing foreign exchange earnings.” Where are the new markets to replace the now lost Venezuelan markets Mr. Housty?
But the more long term challenge is how can we all will work to enhance the productivity in the industry.  As an immediate step to motivate the small farmers, a stimulus bill needs to be laid in the National Assembly offering some help similar to what was offered to the gold mining sector – temporary duty free fuel for one or two crops.
If this situation is not skillfully addressed by the Ministry of Agriculture, more Guyanese will lose their income stream in the months to come. It is the duty of the government to put policies in place to prevent hard working people from losing their homes and their right to a livelihood.
In that rice industry stimulus bill, clear strategies have to be outlined around what will be done in the form of the drainage and irrigation system, state sponsored storage facilities to tide farmers through periods of slack markets, financial support to help small farmers set up their own small mills grounded in a co-operative movement.
The current meltdown in the rice industry is only part of a larger meltdown, and a stimulus bill in the National Assembly is only one attempt to  fix a larger developmental challenge.  But we have to start now, not tomorrow.

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....nd-the-rice-sectors/

If the rice industry is not profitable because too much production is on small acreages, than it makes sense to redirect these farmers to other crops where they can be more competitive.

The CARICOM food bill is why, so why doesnt Guyana finally take advantages of these opportunities.  Especially as there is an increasing demand from tourists at the higher end facilities for organic food.

Leave rice production for the larger, more highly mechanized farms. That is if Guyanese rice farmers do not want to share the fate of banana farmers in islands like St Vincent, and St Lucia, where they were similarly not able to compete against large scale producers, and so couldnt survive outside of preferential markets.

Sure, then go invest in rice flour in Guyana and stop telling other what to do, put your money where your mouth is.

Agree, however too many armchair quarter back with their unproven theories of how to make rice profitable in Guyana. 

The onus is on those involved in the rice industry to find solutions, and not sit back and expect civil servants to do this for them.

They waiting for you to show them the way, just like you did with the cassava pone industry.  Maybe Caribj can give the the guava cheeze lesson!

So you don't see the role of Govt, apart from sucking the juice?  Well, I guess that is the PNC philosophy, no different then the old days.  No wonder PNC cannot even run a proper cake shop (KSI).

bunch of losers, and they think they can run the show.

This cassava bread stargazer man knows it all!

ahmmmmm, about who running de show

last i checked . . .

lol lol

Why should I be obliged to do something in order for the message in the telling of what is habitually done and what is possible to penetrate your skull?  I have more opportunities to do with what money I have to suit my needs but that does not prohibit me for commenting on other ventures. 

That is why you are just another racist ***** with no sense of expanding your view points but exist on the presumption that you being visionless, incompetent and a dunce is where everyone should be.

You idiots are going to be left holding your skinny shriveled penises as those fellows transform our society.

LOL

hammer they ra...s

Hahahahah! One of dem got a goadee!

Yeh, like they once did.  You cannot teach an old dogs new tricks.  Transform from lightness to darkness.  You guys are the biggest bunch of idiots.  They scream and rant the country is bankrupt, then gave themselves the biggest pay raise in history.  Liars and idiots.

No more thieving by government ministers and better salaries will attract the PPP brain drain to return to Guyana and build the country like its never been before.  

There is no evidence or precedence that your advice will save the rice industry in Guyana. You haven't addressed the main point, which is producing rice competitively, instead you want on a rambling about value added products to makeup the shortfall in inefficient production methods. 

You have been drinking too much. There is not suggestion that my advice will save anything. Rice cannot be sold as a one product and be successful. It has to saturate every avenue of its use and still hope for some luck to make it a stable income generating source. Rice is not competitive for the people with three acres depending on someone else s tractor etc. For farmers with over 50 acres it is quite feasible. Each acres can net close to 1k US in 6 weeks and three times a year in favorable times.

Great ideas, kp. The government will secure markets to offset the Veno loss. But the time is ripe to work on value-added rice products like the ones you mentioned.

Then instead of playing monday morning quarterback, describe how the farmer can be competitive with other world producers.  If you don't have a solution then stop playing a know it all. 

Dude, you are just a nitwit ninny. Our rice is not prohibitive on the world market. Our financial system and marketing strategies are deficient. I do not know it all but what I know is light years from where you stand.