Rice farmers from the Essequibo Coast and West Demerara on Wednesday took their plight of low paddy prices being paid by millers in front of Parliament Building where consideration of the 2013 National Budget was winding down.

They also delivered a petition of more than 1,000 signatures to Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and delivered copies to Opposition Leader, David Granger and Vice Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Moses Nagamootoo. Granger and.......

 Nagamootoo promised to raise the issue in the National Assembly.

The farmers insisted that millers were paying many of them paltry sums of as low as GUY$800 per bag of paddy. They denied that the quality of paddy was very poor because of bug infestation.

“The millers are raping the farmers.

They are not giving us what we deserve,” said one farmer ......

as he and others held placards that read

" Rice millers ripping off farmers for years,"

"Farmers need true representatives, not RPA,"

"Millers are becoming billionaires,"

Rice farmers need bail out," and

"Rice farmers demand meeting with the President."

Taje Persaud said. He explained that when Venezuela began buying Guyana’s paddy at US$420 per ton, Guyanese rice farmers were being paid GUY$5,500 per bag.

Now that Venezuela is paying US$520 per ton, they are paying far less for a bag of paddy. Persaud admitted that some of the paddy was of poor quality but not to result in a drastic cut in price.

“We agree that the paddy bad but not to the extent and secondly they are selling the rice at the same price so they are just ripping the farmers off,” he said.

General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Jagnarine Singh and General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj have been meeting with the affected farmers. The latest was a series of meetings last weekend that had also involved Junior Agriculture Minister, Ali Baksh.

However, several of the farmers said Singh and Seeraj could not represent their concerns and they needed them to go.

They also demanded a meeting with President Donald Ramotar.

“We want people who are dealing with rice to look into rice.

Seeraj don’t plant rice he eating rice and he must get out rice.

Put the industry in the hands of farmers and let the farmers manage their business,” said farmer Bhim ‘Cat Eye’ Singh.

With paddy bugs wreaking havoc on the Essequibo Coast because the recent dry spell had resulted in insect migration to rice lands, the farmers said government has banned effective insecticides and substituted them with less potent Chinese products.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister hoped that Guyana and Venezuela would sign a new rice and paddy trade agreement with Venezuela;

an accord that has been delayed by President Hugo Chavez’ illness, death and subsequent elections.