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Wrong paddy sold to farmers
Dear Editor,
Please permit me to share my views on malpractices taking place at the Burma Rice Research Station. It is alleged that the present administration and management of the Burma Rice Research Station are engaged in practices which contradicts the guidelines principles that govern the cultivation of basic and certificated seed paddy.
The allegation is several seed fields which were heavily logged cause rouging not to be done properly; many other fields were not rogue at the correct stage and timing during the crop resulted in the paddy harvested contaminated with high percent of red rice, off-types, other varieties.
I was told that based on the directives given by the Head (Dr. Mahindra Persad) to a highly favored seed production officer, all those questionable paddy were harvested and sent to the processing facility for drying and cleaning for the purpose to be sell to farmers as high quality seed paddy.
A GRDB official, who asked to remain unnamed, told me that this is not the first time seed paddy that does not pass the field inspection and quality standard analysis were harvested, dry, clean and sold to farmers as high quality seed paddy under some name called C3. Paddy that does not pass field inspection and quality analysis must be sent to the mills as commercial and not sold as seed paddy.
The farmers who are the end user are the persons who will stand to suffer the most. If the above is true the off-types, other varieties and red-rice will end up in the farmers’ fields. Farmers already faced great challenges to manage increasing red-rice weed problem, with very little or no definitive solution to the problem forthcoming from the Burma Rice Research Station.
The allegation is a very serious one and the Minister of Agriculture and rice board management should pay keen attention to and investigate. It is time for some structural changes at Burma Rice Research Station to improve the efficiency and deliverables.
T. Ross
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