Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association wants meeting with Ramotar

Mar 17, 2014 News

Paddy farmers from Essequibo are calling for an emergency meeting with Head of State, President Donald Ramotar or Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy to address pressing matters affecting them.
Representative for the Essequibo Paddy Farmers’ Association, Nateram, told Kaieteur News that farmers are so frustrated that they were forced to protest at Anna Regina on March 7 last to try to get their plight addressed.
According to Nateram if the present conditions continue, the very livelihood of Essequibo, paddy farmers will be threatened as the price offered by millers cannot compensate the paddy farmers for the effort and resources they put into their crops.
Nateram explained that last year, farmers were receiving about $4000 for a bag of paddy, but this year the highest price being offered is $3,100. “This is way below the cost of production and at this rate, the paddy farmers cannot sustain their crops and maintain their families,” Nateram lamented.
He said that at the end of the 2013 rice crop, some 120,000 tonnes of paddy was still in the system and had not been marketed. This he said has contributed to a glut in the market and the millers are using this to keep down the price they are offering the farmers.
Another matter of concern to farmers is the promise by the Minister of Agriculture of retroactive payment. According to Nateram, during 2013 when there was infestation of bugs, the millers took 180-200 lbs per bag instead of the usual 140-150 lbs depending on moisture and dockage.
“At a meeting with the Minister, it was promised to us that the millers would make retroactive payments to the farmers to cover the additional weight, but this has not materialized and the farmers have heard nothing further either from the Minister or the millers,” Nateram said.
He said that there is also a call for the names of those millers who owe paddy farmers to be published in the newspapers so that farmers will know which miller is in default.
He noted that since the last crop, some farmers have not been paid for their paddy while others have received only part payment. It is believed that some $60 million is still owed to farmers. “No interest on the amount owed is being paid to farmers as is stipulated in the Rice Factory Act,” Nateram stressed.

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Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association wants meeting with Ramotar

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