Rice farmers seek $5,000 per bag of paddy

Mar 12, 2009 News

Rice farmers at a public meeting on Monday agreed to set up the “Workers and Farmers Action Committee” to steadfastly pursue their interest in the rice industry for higher prices for their paddy, at a time when a cartel of millers are offering $2,000 and $2,500 per bag. Farmers gathered in large numbers on West Coast Demerara and were greeted by the General Secretary of the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC), Norris Witter.

The meeting was also graced by Rice Miller, Turhane Doerga, and Jinnah Rahman, Chief spokesperson of the RPA Action Committee, a pressure group within the Guyana Rice Producers Association.
The TUC General Secretary told the meeting of rice farmers that “today was a historic moment, when rice farmers and workers will be actively supporting each other in the common cause for better working and living conditions”.
He said that for “too long we allowed ourselves to be divided on the basis of race and political allegiances that have not helped our cause”. “Rice is staple diet,” he said – “an essential product, that unites all of us in Guyana and we cannot allow our brothers and sisters, who have made it their livelihood for nearly a century, to produce it at a loss”, he emphasised.

Turhane Doerga, Chief Executive Officer for Alesie Rice Mill and a rice farmer, told the farmers that he was prepared to stand on the side of the farmers in their gallant effort to get a substantial price for their paddy – at a time when there is massive confusion created by certain millers for their own selfish purposes.
He said that the price of rice at the international market will be stabilized to enable farmers to get a good price. He said that farmers must never allow themselves to be treated with disrespect, as seen at the moment.

“You are the producers of rice, not us, the millers, and you must demand a price that is profitable and sustainable”, he stressed. He told the farmers that he attended a recent meeting with the Agriculture Minister and millers.
Jinnah Rahman, whose father was a founding member of Guyana Rice Producers Association, told the farmers that rice was a business and like any business it must make a profit.
He said that rice is the only product in the country that unites all Guyanese regardless of race, class, gender and age.

“Rice farmers today are from a different generation and we are no long going to produce rice at starvation wages”, he said. He said that the government of Guyana was willing to subsidise flour to the Guyanese consumers at a high cost, but is unwilling to intervene to see that the rice farmers get a reasonable price so that the rice industry can be sustained.

“We will not settle for less than $5,000 per bag for our paddy”, he thundered.
Mr. Rahman said that the farmers in Essequibo and Berbice are already feeling the squeeze from unscrupulous rice millers, who are prepared to exploit them at all cost. He said that they are in contact with those rice farmers and efforts are being made to unite with them for the quest for higher prices.
“The Guyana consumers need to know that we are at a crossroad, as far as producing rice for local consumption, much more trying to export this commodity and they need to actively support the farmers in their demand for a price of $5,000 to $6,000 per bag for their paddy or face the consequences of having to import rice at a higher price .