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Money is being poured into agriculture
Rice has been one of the primary exports for a very long time, and over the years it has earned Guyana so much money that the various governments who managed this country have been able to undertake numerous developmental activities.
Through rice, and with the support of bauxite, Guyana was able to undertake such an ambitious hydroelectric project that, had Venezuela not intervened, this country would have had cheap fuel and might have been in a better economic position.
It is true that rice did not always enjoy the privileged position that it does now, because the Burnham Government saw it as a private industry and left the farmers to their own devices, although the farmers needed help.
It was not until some international buyers began to exhibit the kind of interest that the various governments turned their attention to helping the rice farmer.
The Government also spearheaded research into rice, and introduced numerous varieties, some of them high-yielding and some resistant to the diseases that attack rice. Cultivations expanded, and today Guyana is recognized as one of the successful rice producers in the region.
This recognition came when the PPP-Government was elected, because the new managers of the country knew what needed to be done and did it.
Cultivation areas expanded, and with the higher yields, Guyana was producing rice to feed the entire region. The legacy of the colonial rulers loomed large, because some among us showed a clear indication to take supplies of rice from other sources.
Today, this inclination to forego the regional institution and regional development in the form of the Caribbean Community and Common Market is real. Guyana, the only rice producing nation in the region, is now finding that it must beseech some among its partners to buy rice.
The implication is that there are people who do not take regional integration as seriously as they should. These are the people who do not seem to understand the implications of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.
But being the agricultural nation in all this, and recognizing that increasingly Guyana would be expected to provide food for the region, this country is installing infrastructure, such as packaging bonds, for the proper protection and transportation of exports. It is also increasing the number and quality of irrigation and drainage facilities for the benefit of the farmers.
When the Government began to turn its attention to these areas, there were some caustic comments by those who do nothing more than criticize. They fail to understand that more than fifty per cent of the people of this country are either farmers or fishermen.
Poultry farmers are the newest who have joined in the production effort, to the extent that they are already able to export produce to neighbouring countries that until now had to depend on extra-regional products.
It is unfortunate that, despite having the wherewithal to feed the region and countries outside the region, production efforts are not what they ought to be. The Government is always enhancing infrastructure and placing support.
It is building facilities to support the farmers, but many of these farmers — be they crop or poultry farmers — do not make maximum use of these things, to the point that some of the very support structures deteriorate.
The floods of 2005 made everyone realize how tenuous the local agricultural activities are. Drains need to be cleared and maintained at all times; farm supplies such as fertilizers and weedicides must always be there, and the farmers must be prepared to be even more efficient so that production costs would be lowered and exports become even more competitive.
At present, the Government is pouring money into support infrastructure and there is no room for the blame game about wasting money.
The Jamaican situation with Guyana’s rice is evidence that the Government cannot afford to leave agriculture to the farmers who are struggling to get their crop in and out of the ground.
A multi-million-dollar packaging facility has been commissioned at Parika to help those farmers in the western part of the country.
Those farmers have their own habits, but if they are going to be exporting goods of better quality, then they must make maximum use of the expenditures that the Government is making on their behalf. They cannot blame the Government for their failings, when they do not need to fail.
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