First shipment still to leave

Nov 20, 2009 News

– aging vessels a concern to Venezuelans

More than a month after Guyana and Venezuela inked a multi-million-dollar rice deal, there has not been any shipment made to the Spanish-speaking country.
At the signing of the US$18.8M agreement on October 21, last, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said that the first shipment was expected to leave by the first week in November.
It is almost three weeks into the current month and when quizzed on the non-shipment of rice to Venezuela, Persaud said that the Venezuelans have some concerns.
The concerns have even forced the Minister to dispatch General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Jagnarine Singh, and the Quality Control Manager of the GRDB, Allison Peters to Caracas, to iron out some of those concerns.
However, he said that 40,000 tonnes are already earmarked for shipping and he is hopeful that this will leave by the end of the month or early December.
He stated that the Venezuelans have indicated that they will not be accepting vessels older than 20 years old, transporting the rice to that country since they will not be insuring it.
It is now dependent on Guyana to get the vessels to that country at their own risk. Persaud added that the Venezuelans have Phytosanitary issues that they need to sort out with Guyana before the deal moves forward.
He said that he is not concerned about the length of time that the first shipment is taking to come off.
He believes that perfecting every aspect of this temporary arrangement with Venezuela will hopefully ensure a permanent market for Guyana.
Persaud said that in the end this will mean better prices for rice farmers at a time when prices are low.
Touching on the paddy price, Persaud said that the prices have increased internationally but he was not sure if this is being passed down to local rice farmers.
Farmers were heavily dependent on the deal with Venezuela since many millers had indicated that with the realisation of that deal they were going to offer better prices to farmers.
The delay in the first shipment is a setback to farmers who are complaining of operating at a loss. Some farmers said that should the current spate of low rice prices continue, they will be forced to abandon their fields.
The Guyana Rice Producers Action Committee, a breakaway faction from the Rice Producers Association (RPA), said that the current management of the industry lacks foresight and there is need for a different approach if the fortune of the industry is to be reversed.
President Bharrat Jagdeo was forced to inject $400M into the industry to assist farmers. Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, said that close to $200M will be used to construct drying floors that the RPA will oversee with respect to procurement guidelines. The remaining sum will be used to subsidise fertilizer.
Although he did not state the criteria, Persaud said that the RPA has already worked out those for the disbursement of this fertilizer. It was not long ago that farmers started a national outcry and even protested over low prices for paddy.
Some farmers were receiving as low as $1800 per bag for paddy and according to them they were losing $14,000 on every acre of rice they cultivate.

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