GRDB has paid rice millers

Sep 04, 2015 News

– Agriculture Minister

All outstanding monies owed to millers across the rice growing regions of Guyana have been cleared by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday as Essequibo farmers protest for payments.
According to the Ministry, Government is now calling on millers to keep their end of the bargain by paying rice farmers.
Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder, cautioned that it is now the responsibility of millers to pay farmers and not the Government of Guyana.

Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder

GRDB, in keeping with practice, paid millers from the PetroCaribe fund.
Earlier yesterday, rice farmers from Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast staged a protest demanding the administration’s intervention in ensuring that they are paid.
To date, all farmers in Region Two, according to the GRDB’s records, have been paid in full by millers with the exception of a few.
The millers on the Essequibo coast with outstanding payments to farmers include Wazeer Hussein (Dry Shore/KSCL) – $285M; Ramesh Ramlakhan (Ex-mouth) – $156M; Deonarine (Evergreen) – $135M; Old Mac Guyana Inc. – $28M and La Resource Rice Industry – $27M.
“The Agriculture Minister is calling on millers to settle all outstanding debts to farmers who have supplied them with paddy. It is only fair the farmers are paid and in full. We have been very supportive of both millers and farmers but it is time that those millers who have not done so to pay rice farmers,” Minister Holder said.