No rice shortage predicted in Region Six

Jan 19, 2009 News

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NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE — No rice shortage is predicted in Region Six. This is according to the President of the Guyana Rice Producers Association, Leekha Rambrich.

“There is no indication that there will be any shortage of rice here in East Berbice/ Corentyne. For this present crop, we have exceeded last year’s production by some 6,000 acres of rice. In the last crop of 2008, farmers were having some difficulty in selling their produce because, basically, only two buyers were on the market. There is a guarantee that there would be a surplus of rice for both the local and internal markets.”

In the front lands — Crabwood Creek to the East Bank of Berbice, including East and West Canje — 25,933 acres of rice were sown for this first crop of 2009 (spring crop). In Black Bush Polder, 13,980 acres were cultivated. As of Friday, January 16th, the total crop sown in Region Six is 39,913 acres.

He pointed out that land preparation is continuing but at a slow pace, and another 3,000 acres are expected to be planted before the end of January.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Region Six, Zulfikar Mustapha, said that the Regional Administration did not start the irrigation of rice fields late. “We started to irrigate when the majority of farmers needed the water, some time in early November. We cannot only irrigate to satisfy a few big farmers.”

He explained that the irrigation process depends on weather patterns; no irrigation can be done during the wet periods. Last week, President of the Guyana Rice Producers Association, Leekha Rambrich, had said that 60 percent of the rice produced for this first crop in Region Six was threatened. He had explained that the crop was not only under water, but was also highly infected with ‘duck weed’.

He placed the blame squarely on the Regional Administration, when asked if the situation was preventable. “Yes! This could have been avoided if the Regional Administration had listened to the advice of the officials of the Rice Producers Association and the Guyana Rice Development Board, who made the call for the Region to start irrigating between the 1st to the 10th of November.” Said Mr. Rambrich .

According to Rambrich, had the irrigation process begun earlier, the rice crop would have been older and more resilient, and less space would have been available for the ‘duck weed’ to thrive.

According to Mr. Mustapha, although there was heavy flooding in several sections of East Berbice /Corentyne over the past few weeks, this present rice crop will surpass the amount produced for the corresponding crop in 2008.

The Regional Chairman said that rice is still under cultivation. “To date, we have 39,713 acres cultivated so far. The breakdown is from Crabwood Creek to the East Bank of Berbice — 25, 733 acres, and in Black Bush Polder 13,980 acres have been sown so far. It is estimated that close to 46,000 acres will be cultivated for this present spring crop.”

According to Mustapha, the production for the autumn crop in 2008 was 36,600 acres. “We have already surpassed that. And if you look at losses, not much has been lost to date.”

According to him, in the front lands — Crabwood Creek to the East Bank of Berbice — 1, 895 acres were lost because of the flood, for this present crop; and in Black Bush Polder, 1,152 acres.

Mr. Mustapha insisted that this loss had nothing to do with the Regional Administration, but was due to the fact that the crop was sown just before the heavy rainfall, and as such was not allowed to germinate as a result of the large volume of water on the land. “Some farmers are in the process of re-throwing paddy seeds that were lost, and our extension officers — Guyana Rice Development Board and Ministry of Agriculture — are out in the fields advising farmers how they can get the acreage re-planted.”

Mr. Mustapha said that Regional officials met with all the farmers in the Black Bush Polder area before the crop started. “We meet with these farmers on a weekly basis, and based on their request, we started to irrigate the land.”

The Region Six Chairman pointed out that in some areas farmers tampered with the drainage and irrigation structures, and this assisted in creating a recipe for flooding in those areas.

Chairman of the Black Bush Polder Water Users’ Association, Lalbahadoor Singh, said that farmers decide when the time is right for the irrigation process to commence. Mr. Singh is for the removal of the President of the Guyana Rice Producers Association. “He should move as the President of the RPA. We need some action. The President of Guyana should take some action; it is a very serious offence.”

The President of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association, Leekha Rambrich, said: “The dam was cut by residents of Bengal because the entire area was flooded. It was not cut by me, the President of the RPA. Before the residents cut the dam, the Regional Chairman was invited to the area and a discussion was held. The Regional Chairman said that he would not give the permission to cut or not to cut, let the residents do what they feel is the best thing. When the dam cut, the Regional Chairman start labelling me that I cut the dam.”

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