Berbice rice farmers clash with police

Mar 11, 2022 News

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…as protest action against rice millers intensifies

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – A third day of protest action by rice farmers from Black Bush Polder erupted into total chaos when they took their demonstration to the No.43 Village Public Road, forming a human blockade and preventing the flow of traffic for some time.

Nearly a dozen police ranks turned up in the company of the Deputy Commander Vishnu Hunt and other senior officers with the hope of quelling the situation and clearing the road so that the traffic can move along freely, but things instead escalated. The farmers have been protesting the low prices millers are paying for their paddy at a time when the prices for several inputs have increased.

There were several exchanges of words between the protestors and the police and at one point, things got physical- with civilians and police both being tugged at. One protester was also dragged by his clothes by several ranks into the back of a police pick-up. Another protester who was also thrown into the back of the vehicle was held in a vice to his neck by a police officer who was also sitting at the back of the vehicle. A protester told reporters that “they arrest two men…no police don’t have a name tag, dem chuck up, beat up and push dem in the van…” Kaieteur News was informed that three protestors were initially taken into police custody, however by press time two of them were released. Efforts to contact Commander Boodnarine Persaud in relation to the arrests were unsuccessful.

At the protest, one rice farmer said that they are currently buying manure for $10,000-$12,000 a bag and to compound the issue along with the price increase in other items, the price for paddy per tonnage was dropped by rice millers from $70,000 to $65,000 at the beginning of the week. However, as of yesterday, the price dropped further to $60,000. “We want the government to do something about this and this is the good thing the government promised abey on the campaign…dem tell us that the rice farmers go get good life and this is the good life rice farmers getting…,” the frustrated farmer said. He stated that the farmers are punishing. “Let dem drive through Black Bush and see the road condition, people ah punish in Black Bush…”

Another rice farmer, Barbara Felix, told the media that they were protesting peacefully because of the high prices they are forced to pay for agriculture related items. “We are protesting peacefully because we are paying $10,600 for manure, we paying $8,000 for seed paddy, we paying $40,000 to throw our plot, $300,000 to prepare our land, we take loan from the bank to pay and now from $70,000, it go to $65,000, then it go to $60,000 and we still expect it to drop”, Felix said. She made the call for President Irfaan Ali to “come and intervene,” stating that there will be no peace “until the President is here because we are frustrated.”

Dozens of rice farmers on Tuesday protested a decision by rice millers to reduce the price of paddy per tonne, a change they said is “unacceptable” at this time, given the high cost of production for the paddy. The rice farmers, in an effort to register their displeasure, converged at Lesbeholden, Johanna and Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder with their placards and used their vehicles and agriculture machinery to block the road thus preventing the free flow of traffic for hours. The situation, which eventually attracted police presence, had dozens of rice farmers demanding that the price for paddy return to what it was. The price of paddy paid by millers per tonnage was dropped from $70,000 to $65,000 but rice farmers are saying that the cost of production for paddy is extremely high and, as such, a compromise cannot be met at this time to accept $65,000.
The farmers said that if the government can intervene and the price for items such as fuel, fertilizer etc can be reduced then they would accept the price set by millers for the next crop. They however are not willing to compromise with the price for this crop which has already commenced harvesting. Lekka Rambrich, President of the Rice Producers Association had told Kaieteur News that the price started at $55,000-$56,000 a tonne and it went up to $70,000 a tonne. The millers, he said, were paying $70,000 at the beginning of the crop which commenced a week ago but from the previous crop to now, the price for rice tumbled internationally by over $26 per tonne. This, he added, is a set back because “when the millers finish buying paddy, the rice price falls and it maintains the lowness up to now and it hasn’t risen back, that is why the millers couldn’t have done white rice. There was a shortage of bran in the system because nobody could not have bought paddy at that high price and do white rice so taking into consideration the drop in price internationally, and now that you have a big crop on the ground (64,000 acres), the miller now will be forced to do white rice.” He said too that for the millers to make a profit, the price has to drop. The farmers said they will continue to protest until the President or Agriculture Minister meets with them.

 

 

 

 

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