Berbice rice farmers hit hard, losing $$$$

 
By Leon Suseran
Rice farmers in Berbice, just like their counterparts in other parts of Guyana like Region Two, are facing tremendous difficulties. Several rice millers in Berbice, due to financial and other problems, have started to slow down the intake of paddy from the rice farmers. Also, the prices of paddy have dropped from $62,000 per tonne to $52,000- per tonne of paddy.
Farmers, too, have been complaining of not being paid on time, adding to the frustration. At the Nand Persaud Rice Mill at Number 36 Village, Corentyne, there is usually a long line of trucks, laden

Lots of paddy in trucks lined off along the public road, awaiting acceptance from the Nand Persaud Mill yesterday.

with paddy, parked along the public road with nowhere to go, since the mills have slowed down the intake of the paddy. This is causing tremendous losses for the rice farmers.
Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, has met with the rice farmers of the Upper Corentyne area as well as Black Bush Polder and has listened to their grievances. “We have completed over 75 per cent of the harvesting in the region so far. The rest is still to be taken out,” he revealed.
“The process has been slowed down considerably since the mills have been slowing down their intake from the farmers. The price has been dropping—nearly $10,000 drop per tonne of paddy.” Armogan added that the amount of paddy going into the mills “apparently it’s not easy—and then the volume of money that has to be generated that pay these rice farmers—a lot of them have complained to me that they have not been paid on time.
In fact, over four weeks have passed and some of them have not even drawn down in the first installments of their payments and quite a number of farmers are not happy with that situation.”
He noted, too, that even though the combines are available to do the harvesting, “the trucks to transport the paddy to the mills [are] being delayed at the mills—-The farmers are having great difficulty in getting trucks”.
The plethora of difficulties being faced by the farmers, he added, does not auger well for the country. “This doesn’t speak too well in going back to the next crop…the farmers are projecting certain profits to be ploughed back into the other crop.” He stated that some farmers have gone back to land preparation, “so we have started the pumps in Black Bush Polder to start pushing irrigation water into some of these areas. He is hoping to have a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and millers.
Police harassment
Another problem being experienced by rice farmers is the constant harassment from the police in Berbice regarding licences to operate tractors. In many instances, Armogan explained that the rice farmers have several tractors “and they employ these young fellas to drive the tractors and these fellas don’t have the licence. It is difficult for them to have the licences because they do not know to read and write.”
The result is that the farmers who play a very crucial part in the rice milling process are experiencing a shortage of tractor operators. They raised the concern with Armogan at the meeting and asked if it is possible for the police in Berbice to administer an oral traffic test to the potential tractor drivers.
Even though the Commander of ‘B’ Division was present at that meeting, it was revealed that the decision to do such lies only at the level of the Ministry of Home Affairs “for some flexibility”. “The fellas are very good practically, because they have been driving these tractors for quite some time now so we will have to represent this to Central Government to see if some special dispensation can be allowed,” Armogan explained.
Berbice is one of Guyana’s largest rice- producing areas.