E’bo farmers protest late rice payments

Feb 14, 2015 News

Late payment to rice farmers among several other critical issues continues to be a common feature that the rice farming community, especially in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) continues to decry.
On Friday a number of rice farmers who had not received monies owed to them by millers since the previous crop, staged another peaceful protest. They converged at the Cotton Field New Market and processed to the Anna Regina “High Bridge”. They were led by Naith Ram, who heads the Essequibo Paddy Association, an NGO body.
Frustrated farmers were armed with placards that read, “Farmers need urgent meeting with GRDB officials”, “Millers are taking advantage of rice farmers”, “Farmers demand REP on GRDB board.”
Chairman of the Essequibo Rice Producers Association, Naith Ram, said that rice farmers on the Essequibo Coast continue to agitate for better prices for paddy and to seek a thorough revision of the Rice Factory’s Act.
Ram is contending, too, that the grading systems that are currently being executed by Millers, especially in Region Two, need to be upgraded.
Yesterday, Ram said that farmers who had engaged in the protest did not receive payments for paddy sold since the previous crop, while some would have only received part payment almost six months after selling paddy.
“What is going to happen in the following crop?” Ram asked. He is claiming that rice is at the crossroads. Ram reminded that senior officials while on a visit to the Essequibo Coast assured farmers that they have markets.
However Ram said those statements are contrasting.”This is just the beginning of this exercise; we, the farmers, are requesting an urgent meeting with officials from GRDB.”
An official attached to the Guyana Rice Development Board however noted that on Tuesday, 95 percent of the rice farmers received payments from several millers. The official added that there is however some considerable amount of monies still owed to farmers. He said that farmers should be paid within the stipulated 42 days after they would have sold their paddies to millers.
“The rice farmers and millers have their own private arrangement; GRDB continues to lend support to farmers.”
Chaitlall, a/k”Blacks” of Reliance, Essequibo Coast, said that he is still owed some $7M by the millers. He said earlier this week, that only $500,000 was paid to him.
Farmers are preparing to harvest some 37,600 acres of paddy by month end. Rice farming is the economic driving force on the Essequibo Coast.

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E’bo farmers protest late rice payments

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