We need a vision to rule and govern ourselves prpoerly

Jun 25, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Since the beginning of last year, there has been a constant rise for the cost of chicken feed produced by Guyana Stockfeeds Ltd.

Over the past months since the inception of this year, every two weeks the cost for feed will be increased by a constant $200 per bag. As from today, the feed price jumped up again like a jumping frog trying to reach the clouds. A bag of starter is now $5,300 in the shops.

From the feed truck that sells for Stockfeeds on rebate, the cost for a bag of starter is now $5,100. We are told that the cost for feed will be climbing all the time because of high gas price and high price for the raw materials to produce the feed.

It means that the feed can reach $10,000 per bag by now and the end of the year. It seems as if the Ministry of Agriculture is not aware of the fact that this rapid high cost for feed will threaten the poultry industry and can automatically close it down for life.

Why is it that this only supplier for chicken feed is given the authority to raise prices like this? It seems as if our Government lacks the power to control this high cost for feeds produced by Guyana Stockfeeds Ltd.

The sad part about this feed increase is that, while the feed is increasing, the wholesale price for live chicken has been dropping constantly, causing lots of chicken farmers to lose millions of dollars.

The price dropped rapidly because the estates are not in operation because of being out of crop, and the cash flow is very limited. Thus farmers are forced to sellout their live meat birds at a price below the cost of production.

Some time ago, the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Robert Persaud, met with farmers at the Guyana School of Agriculture. He mentioned about producing our own chicken feeds by NARI, in collaboration with the Guyana School of Agriculture, which is a very good vision for poultry farmers.

This vision will take time to be realised, it can take years. I am told that if this vision to produce feeds by Government materializes, it would only be for the Guyana School of Agriculture and not for the general public. How true is that I cannot tell.

I believe the Hon. Minister of Agriculture has the power to deal with this rapid high cost for feed by meeting with chicken farmers and the producers of chicken feeds.

It will now cost a chicken farmer about $700,000 to produce a thousand chickens. With mortality rate at over 10%, and poor growth, labour cost, drugs and the wholesale price at $150 per pound, every chicken farmer will lose thousands of dollars from their investment.

If the feed price can be at a normal rate, and also the broken rice, the poultry industry will not suffer losses. It’s amazing that a bag of fine rice is selling at up to $4,500 per bag.

One gallon of brown rice is now $1000, which is very ridiculous, because rice is being produced in Guyana. It seems as if our system of administration needs to be rectified, because wages and salaries remain the same, increased only by 5%, while groceries are rising by 500%, in some cases 1000%.Where are we really heading?

In a country with less than a million people, we have now become the poorest country in the entire Caribbean.

While there is a great call to Grow More food and produce more poultry and live stocks, Government must realise that to Grow More and produce more needs capital to invest and land to cultivate. Farmers also need to make a profit from what they are producing.

Then farmers have to deal with thieves, who will reap what they never planted. It’s about time our Minister of Agriculture goes to his auditor to be given some mathematical advice on the cost of poultry production and cash crop production, as well as rice.

What I have seen here is more investment less profit, or no profit at all. It is my sincere hope that our Government addresses this high cost for chicken feed, as well as rice, bran, copra, soya and corn etc.

What we need is a vision to rule and govern ourselves properly. Guyana is a nation too young to die; no wonder thousands of our qualified graduates are migrating every day. People will suffer because of a lack of vision.
Rev. Gideon Cecil