Miller threatens to blow lid off rice industry

Oct 01, 2014 News

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…after clash with Agri Minister

A miller has clashed with Government over the rice industry following questions regarding the multi-billion-dollar Venezuela deal.
The issue has now drawn in the main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which disclosed it has been working to assess the industry and will soon make those findings known.

The trouble all started Monday when several millers were in a meeting with Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, to discuss paddy prices and other issues.
There were also representatives from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA).
Several questions were raised, including the players involved in the Venezuela rice deal.
According to Dr. Turhane Doerga, former Chief Executive Officer of Alesie Group, the Minister allegedly threatened to revoke the operating licence of his company, after becoming incensed by questions.
Yesterday, Doerga held a press conference at the office of the Leader of the Opposition, on Hadfield Street, saying he is now prepared to blow the cover off the corruption within the rice industry.
There was also Jinnah Rahman, who says he is representing the RPA Action Committee, a West Demerara-based grouping of rice farmers.
According to Doerga, the industry is in a crisis, with a recent deal with Panama a good example of how bad a deal Guyana is getting. The deal will only allow millers to pay $2,800 per bag of paddy, way below the profit margin for farmers. Farmers need at least $4,000 per bag to stay alive, with many of them facing cash problems now.
He made comparisons to the sugar industry which, unlike rice, was not privatised in the ‘90s. The billions being plugged into sugar annually by Government to keep that industry alive is testimony of how bad a decision it was, not to privatize sugar, he said.
Doerga, who said he helped put together the Venezuela oil-for-rice deal, also claimed that his company played a role but was sidelined afterwards by the Jagdeo administration.
Several operators, some of whom do not even deal with the local market, are now benefitting.
Doerga claimed that it is indeed true that GRDB and the Government is creaming off monies, described as fees, shipping costs and a social fund, to the tune of billions. At the end of the line, farmers are taking the scrapings, leaving many of them struggling.
The Government has gone so far to even sell out its rice wharf in Kingston, forcing farmers and millers to depend on other, more expensive shippers.
It may be “legally right” what GRDB and the Government are doing, Doerga charged, but it is also “morally unacceptable”.
APNU’s General Secretary, MP Joe Harmon, said that the Opposition clearly does not support threats by the Government to revoke licences at the drop of a hat as there is a process for that.
This borders on “dictatorship” and possibily violates the constitutional rights of parties, the official said.

GRDB REFUTES
Doerga said that scores depend on Alesie for a living and it would be a shame for the Ministry to follow through on its threats. But GRDB refuted Doerga’s claims.
The regulatory body said that Minister Ramsammy told the millers that in relation to complaints of low prices being paid to farmers, GRDB was preparing to audit the books of the mills.
“Such a move by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) will bring closure to the perception that millers are not making huge profits. This move didn’t go down well with some millers, including Mr. Doerga who interjected.”
GRDB said that during the discussion, the allocation of quotas for the Venezuela market was also addressed. It was pointed out that this quota allocation was discussed with the millers’ association on several occasions.
“Mr. Doerga then refuted that claim that a Millers’ association exists even after several of his colleague millers clarified that they are indeed a part of the Millers’ Association who meet often.”
GRDB claimed that Doerga accused a GRDB official of being in partnership with the association and involved in bias distribution of quota for rice export.
“Mr. Doerga was then asked to issue an apology for the misleading statement of which he refused and continued to behave in a disorderly manner.  He was then asked to leave the meeting after he became very confrontational and threw papers (which are believed to be emails) in the face of the Minister.”
GRDB said that Doerga threatened to go to the Opposition.
The Ministry of Agriculture, in response to Dr. Doerga, admitted that while the rice industry has challenges, works are moving apace to overcome them.
“However, while Mr. Doerga is of the view that the industry is in trouble, the rice sector for the first time in Guyana’s history recorded in excess of 500,000 tonnes of rice. This year, GRDB is moving to exceed this production target.”
In 2013, GRDB said it exported approximately 400,000 tonnes of rice and this year based on exports done thus far and current contracts, the industry is set to export 500,000 tonnes.
“The success of the rice industry is always based on the sector’s ability to export to new markets such as Panama, Nicaragua, and Belize, and increase sales to traditional markets such as Haiti, Venezuela, EU, and CARICOM.”

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