Calm returns to E’bo…Arrested rice protestors placed on bail but rice worries continue

Jul 06, 2014 News

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Calm returned to the Essequibo coast yesterday but rice farmers remained defiant despite the arrest of 19 persons on Friday night.
The area erupted Friday night as farmers, protesting outstanding payments, squared off with police who ended up firing several canisters of tear gas as the crowds swelled to around 500 persons at midnight.

Residents were sent scrambling out of their homes at Land of Plenty, a village located not far from Anna Regina, as the tear gas took effect.
Residents and farmers used tyres and burning logs to block the road
It was an unusual situation as Essequibo coast is a laidback farming area not known for protests.
Yesterday, after intervention by Members of Parliament, police released the 19 persons on bail. They will have to report to the police on Tuesday. Last night three of the men were being treated at the hospital for injuries.
Rice farmers are insisting that millers owed them hundreds of millions months after taking their paddy for the first crop.
Essequibo is heavily dependent on rice but farmers are claiming that a vicious cycle of outstanding payments, debt, poor weather and a lax attitude by Government towards millers have been keeping them in poverty.
Yesterday, Leader of the Alliance For Change, Khemraj Ramjattan, was working with relatives of arrested farmers and others who were arrested during the protest actions.  MP Christopher Jones, of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was also there lending support.
Several family members and rice farmers gathered at the Anna Regina Police Station early in the morning calling for the men to be released.
Among those arrested was AFC Councillor in Region Two, Naith Ram, who was reportedly left naked after clashing with the police Friday night. Police denied this yesterday and accused Naith Ram of taking off his clothes after he was held. Residents maintained yesterday that the clothes of the AFC Councillor came off after he was manhandled by police ranks.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, several rice farmers spoke of a worrying situation in Essequibo.
Over 30,000 acres is targeted for cultivation this crop. Several of the farmers claimed that it has been almost four months and some are still waiting to be paid by millers who they accused of using their monies to conduct expansions, instead of paying them.
“We asked the Agri Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, and even the Minister of Home Affairs to visit us but nobody come. The Guyana Rice Development Board and rice producing association held a meeting Thursday that we did not even know about. We complaining all the time but nobody ain’t doing anything. Further when they actually talk, it is some cock-and-bull story about a free market and Government can’t interfere,” one irate farmer said.
Farmers claim that two major millers owe them almost $1B each. Essequibo has over 4,000 persons involved in rice cultivation.
“We know that GRDB has a law in which farmers have to be paid 50 percent of their money within two weeks and the rest in 42 days. If they fail to pay within the time, the miller got to pay interest. They not paying the interest, but they taking interest if we late in taking fertilizer from them. Plus they robbing us when take our paddy to them on the weight and the grades they give us. You tell me how we can survive? GRDB and the Government not addressing this.”

According to the AFC leader, he travelled to Anna Regina yesterday after several farmers called him. “We are working to get the farmers out of the lockups. I understand that a few persons arrested were not even part of the protests but were coming from work. People are suffering and AFC will be examining this situation.”
According to Ramjattan, he also received complaints from farmers that millers are using their monies to finance the milling operations.
“I understand that monies were paid to the millers from their customers, from the Venezuela rice deal, and others, and yet nothing was passed to the farmers. This is a serious situation which has implications for farmers in Essequibo and by extension the country. I fear that the situation may also be the same in other parts of the country.”
The situation may be even more serious that appeared at first glance. Farmers have taken loans and owe suppliers like Geddes Grants and millers millions for fertilizers and equipment.
With Guyana targeting almost 600,000 tonnes of rice this year, there are fears that too few markets may end up leaving Guyana with a surplus which could push prices downwards.
Rice has been the second biggest earner for Guyana, after gold with production breaking records last year.
However, as the farmers pointed out yesterday in Essequibo, the production record may be pointless if prices remain low.

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