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Poor management at the GRDB Rice Research Station
Dear Editor,
The rice industry in Guyana is plays a vital role in the country which contributes to the greatly to the GDP. The Burma Rice Research Station which should be the premium institution for rice in Guyana and further afield is very poorly managed by a team of persons headed by Dr. Mahendra Persaud. Some people would say is like having “square pegs in round holes” The reason for saying this as I have previously indicated through the press that there is serious problem in the industry, apart from finding high price market for our rice, with: (1) rice weeds, (2) issues of paddy bugs and other pest and disease problems, (3) poor quality of seeds produced at Burma and (4) poor marketing and bias distribution of the seed paddy produced by the station to the farmers etc. This is all clearly due to having “square pegs in round holes” who enjoy high salaries and other allowances in excess of 8.5 M annually because of the employment policy of previous PPP administration.
It is also alleged, that apart from the poor management of the research work, there is other highly unacceptable practices happening at the Research Station which are kept as top level secrets. Issue such as thousands of liters of fuel and fertilizers the paper work for which is poorly kept; loss due to spillage, sole sourcing of contractors for repairs to residential houses and building other infrastructure at the research station. So this are all allegations the Hon. Minister Mr. Jaipaul Sharma and his audit team should look into and investigate. In my view, the slow pace at which management is working on addressing these issue facing the rice industry and mismanaging the boards resources means the industry will surely have a massive disaster in time to come. It is a call to the HE President David Granger, Minister of State Hon. Joseph Harmon and Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Noel Holder to look into these issue and make the necessary changes so that the rice farmers of our country can receive better services for the GRDB Burma Rice Research Station.
Terry Ross
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