Guyana Expecting Bumper Rice Production This Year
BUMPER CROP: A tractor ploughing a rice field in Berbice, Guyana.
GUYANA SAYS it will exceed the 2013 target for rice production by as much as 80,000 tonnes.
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said with a first crop production of 263,528 tonnes, the second crop may well exceed the 2013 target of 450,000 tonnes.
The authorities say more than 75,000 hectares of rice land had been placed under cultivation for the second crop.
They said early indications are that farmers were having a good crop with a fairly good yield, averaging approximately 35 bags of paddy per acre.
"If the rest of the crop maintains that level of yield which we fully expect, of course it could get better, but we don't expect it would be worse. We expect that this crop would produce far in excess of 220,000 tonnes of rice," Ramsammy said.
He said the first crop could have easily passed 300,000 tonnes had it not been for the drought and the paddy bug infestation, which were not unique to Guyana or unusual for rice industries around the world.
"We can't say how successful we have been thus far until more rice is harvested. What we can say, however, is that in this initial stage, we have seen encouragingly very little impact of paddy bug," Ramsammy added.