Latest update April 4th, 2025 5:09 PM
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Farmers, millers meet as paddy prices fall, costs increase
By Leonard Gildarie
Rice millers and farmers meet with Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, far right, and other rice officials at the ministry yesterday.
The local rice industry is bracing itself for some hard times as falling paddy prices and harsh weather conditions are proving too much to handle.
And there may be a case of too much rice being planted with not enough overseas market.
Even yesterday’s welcomed rainfall on sections of the coast could not do much to dispel the feelings of gloom within the industry by farmers.
Several key players in the industry met yesterday at the Ministry of Agriculture as government scrambled to find solutions.
A key team comprising of farmers and millers will be convening as early as next week to attempt to agree on paddy prices, among other key issues.
According to rice farmers, high transportation and harvesting costs have all mounted. With indications that paddy prices will again be low, like the last season, farmers said that they will be losing thousands of dollars.
Present at the meeting at the Ministry’s boardroom, were Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board, Jagnarine Singh, and Dharamkumar Seeraj, General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers Association.
Seeraj acknowledged that farmers are facing hardships made worse by a harsh dry season, and had to find unbudgeted money to pump water into their fields.
Additionally, it maybe a case where many farmers, gambling on last year’s record prices, have overextended themselves by planting more rice.
Early last year, farmers received as much as $6000 per bag of paddy. This was due to high world prices fuelled by shortages of rice. However, as several key countries upped production, prices plummeted and by December, local farmers were being offered $2500 per bag.
According to one rice farmer’s figures, it would cost in excess of $84,000 to plant an acre of paddy. Assuming that $2500 is being offered for a bag and each acre produces between 25-35 bags of paddy, the results would mean that farmer will either break even or make huge losses.
According to another farmer, the miller should be cognizant of the fact that failure to protect the farmers with fair prices could ultimately damage the industry, since families entirely depend on rice crops. He opined that it may even be better to start fishing for a living instead of remaining in the current situation.
Minister Persaud, stressing that world prices are stable, warned that some millers will have to stop being “lazy” as some of the answers to the rice industry’s problems could be found in finding new overseas markets. Countries like Cuba, Colombia and neighbouring Venezuela all have possibilities.
It is not government’s role to find new markets or meddle with price, since Guyana operates a free market system, the Minister noted. The government’s role includes taking matters and handling them on a bilateral level.
Persaud urged millers to play fair and warned that government will be monitoring the rice situation and while it cannot control the prices, unfair practices will be spoken out against.
He acknowledged that planting more rice may not be the answer right now, but rather the improvement of yield per acre.
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