Millers, Farmers’ Reps. have little say on Rice Board - GRDB Director

Millers, Farmers’ Reps. have little say on Rice Board – GRDB Director

May 02, 2016 News

– insists Board must scrutinize all contracts done in GRDB’s name

Directors on the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) are speaking out against what they say are due processes not being followed in the signing of contracts. According to two Directors, they were not consulted on at least two million-dollar agreements which have been made since the Board was installed.
One of the agreements relates to the deals which were signed between the GRDB and two Jamaican companies – the Jamaica Rice Milling Company Limited and Musson (Jamaica) Limited. Both companies had agreed to import a total of 80,000 tonnes of rice from Guyana during 2016.
The other agreement is the deal for urea fertilizer, which was brokered between GRDB and HDM labs Inc.
HDM Labs was slated to supply the fertilizer in a deal valued at over $400M but in the wake of withering criticism locally, the deal reportedly collapsed.
Co- Chairman of the Guyana Rice Producers Association- Action Committee (GRPA-AC) Jinnah Rahman stated that there is a marked lack of consultations. According to Rahman, a Director on the GRDB, neither he nor the Board saw the Jamaican or fertilizer contracts until it was too late.
He said that those contracts must go to the Marketing Committee of the GRDB, but neither GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan nor Chairman of the GRDB Board, Claude Housty had been calling meetings.
“The Terms of Reference of the Marketing Committee have been consistently violated by Hassan,” Rahman stated in a recent interview. “The two miller’s representatives and three rice farmers (representatives) on the Board have little say on the new Board.”
“Hassan has also breached the regulation of the Rice Board, which clearly states that the Board of Directors must scrutinize all contracts for the sale of rice abroad and other agreements done in the name of the Guyana Rice Development Board.”
Meanwhile President of the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association (GREMA), Rajindra Persaud, also stated that both the fertilizer contract and the rice export contract to the Jamaica companies were not brought to the Board for consultations beforehand.
Persaud, who also sits on the GRDB Board of Directors as one of two representatives of the millers, noted that in the past, when an agreement was reached between rice officials in Guyana and Venezuela, it was a Government to Government agreement. He noted that he has nothing against this.
However, he pointed out that the two Jamaican companies are the ones which would get preferential prices and this is a situation that can give rise to a monopoly and even corruption.
The Board of Directors is comprised of Dr. Peter De Groot and Rajindra Persaud, both of GREMA; Jinnah Rahaman, co- Chairman of the Rice Action Committee; Naith Ram, of the Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association; Leakha Rambrich, of the GRPA; George Seales, of the Consumers Association; Dr Oudho Homenauth of National Agriculture Research Institute; and John Tracey, of Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI); Rajdai Jagernauth and Cecil Seepersaud.
This board was announced by Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder last year and it has a life span from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. The new Board was installed at a time when the GRDB was facing a barrage of criticism.
In response to the current criticism about the fertilizer contracts, the GRDB had stated that discussions were started with suppliers overseas and a contract was entered into with HDM labs, because of the “perceived urgency” in the industry caused by the loss of the Venezuelan rice market last year.
With regards to the Jamaica deals, GRDB’s response was that the agreements would organize the supply of rice to the Jamaican market.