PPP accuses Gov’t of ‘dishonesty’ over rice markets

Nov 03, 2015 News

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 -recommends nine measures to assist farmers

By Jarryl Bryan
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has accused the Government of being dishonest in promoting rice importing countries, Panama and Portugal, as ‘new markets’ set to replace the Venezuelan rice market. Those markets were always importers of Guyana’s rice, PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee said, yesterday.

In fact the party, through its Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, has produced several recommendations for the Government in dealing with the rice industry and assisting farmers.
Included in those recommendations is, “Resuming negotiations with the Government of Venezuela with the intention of selling rice and paddy to that country.” This, however, comes at a time when the Venezuelan oil for rice deal comes to an end in just 13 days.
Previously, the Venezuelan Government had announced its intention not to renew the arrangement. A diplomatic spat had also sprung up between the two countries over the oil drilling carried out off the Stabroek block, a matter that is pending a final resolution.
While Government has taken a position that too much has been made out of the collapse of the Venezuelan market, the figures suggest otherwise. Though Panama and Portugal were touted as credible replacements for the Venezuelan market, the former arrangement saw Guyana exporting rice to Venezuela at concessionary prices, with the money saved going to a PetroCaribe account.
The money from the PetroCaribe account was used, among other things, for paying farmers in a timely manner.
PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee, during the party’s weekly press conference at Freedom House, yesterday, stated that while the Government had made mention of Panama and Portugal as viable rice markets, former Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had noted that these were markets that had imported Guyana’s rice before.
“We (were) already exporting rice to Portugal and Panama,” he said. “So it’s kind of dishonest to say that we are now exporting rice to those two markets.”

“With respect to Mexico,” Rohee continued, speaking in the capacity of a former Minister of Foreign Trade. “I was doing some research. The first thing(s) a trade Minister looks for when talking about market access are tariffs, market barriers, sanitary measures and whether there are trade preferences with (these) countries.”
The General Secretary noted that it was not just (glibly) talking about getting into a market, alluding to research on market viability.
“So it is okay to have a political discussion about getting into these markets,” he said. “The devil is usually in the details.”
He recalled one direct case where discussions with Trinidad and Tobago were at one time stymied after the oil-producing nation raised objections about the quality of Guyana’s rice.
“Look at how difficult it was to export rice to Trinidad. At one point they said the grain of the rice was not suitable for consumers in their domestic market. Then they said the colour (and then) the smell,” he said.
Recommendations
In the correspondence from Seeraj to Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, seen by Kaieteur News, Seeraj can be seen berating the Minister for promises the coalition made on the campaign trail that were undelivered.
He stated that while rice farmers were promised (at least) double the price obtained for a bag of paddy in the 2015 first crop during the elections campaign, they are now receiving between 35 and 60 percent of the first crop prices in the second crop. He observed that this was leading to bankruptcy in the sector.
“There were recent protests by rice farmers across the rice growing regions and twice in Georgetown over this situation, and in meetings with the public the LOP was ask on numerous occasions to help resolve the problems of the farmers in particular and the industry in general,” the correspondence went on to say.

After recommending that negotiations re-open with Venezuela, he went on to advocate that all forms of taxes and duties on fuel for the industry be removed forthwith.
He also recommended the removal of all taxes and duties on inputs for the industry including machinery, equipment and spares. In addition, the commencement of discussions with all lending institutions supplying loans to the industry to review terms and conditions of loans was touted.
This measure, according to Seeraj, was in order to get the institutions to ‘soften’ repayment conditions in view of the low prices farmers were getting per bag of paddy.
Another measure, Seeraj advocated, was for Government to suspend payments by farmers of land leases, drainage and irrigation charges. The correspondence went on to call for “a supplementary provision to Parliament to provide financial support to farmers to aid in the purchase of seed paddy and fertilizers.”
The Minister was also advised to have the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) immediately implement minimum export prices for rice and paddy, and to put out an aggressive marketing strategy to enhance current prices and secure lucrative markets.
And the final recommendation called for the Government to withdraw its pronouncement that ‘it’s a private matter’ and offer more support to the industry, especially the farmers.
Up to 16:00 hrs yesterday afternoon, the RPA General Secretary could not confirm receipt of a response to the proposals.

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