$300M in fertilizer assistance for rice, cash crop farmers in Region Six

Jun 06, 2022 News

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo addressing farmers at No.63 Village.

Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo last week announced that $300M has been set aside for fertilizer assistance to rice and cash crops farmers throughout Region Six.
He made the remarks during a meeting with farmers and residents at No.63 Village, East Berbice Corentyne. Additionally, a 20-25-member committee of farmers will be formed to work along with the government from the procurement stage to the distribution stage of the fertilizer within the region.
Of the $300M, a total of $25M in fertilizer support will be directed to cash crop farmers. “…that committee would decide how we use the $300 Million, how we procure the fertilizer and how we distribute it so that is the main reason why I am here because we don’t want to come back here and hear from people again that some people got who didn’t deserve it, and others didn’t get, and so you are going to have an opportunity now to help us to better extend this help to others…” Jagdeo said. The Vice President also pointed out that fishermen who will soon benefit from the $150,000 cash grant will also have to partake in a verification process that will run for a month.
A total of $1 Billion in fertilizer support was earmarked by the government of Guyana for rice and cash crop farmers throughout the country following consultations and representations made by people during travels to Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Jagdeo said. “Many of the farmers have argued that the price of fertilizer in spite of the fact that when the PPP got into office, we removed the tax that APNU had put on fertilizer, the 14% VAT, but prices went up…oil and gas is the base for the fertiliser industry so every time crude oil goes up the price of fertilizer goes up,” he said.
Oil prices have made a steep jump from $28 in 2015 per barrel of crude oil to $120 per barrel, which the VP said is due to the on-going war between Russia and Ukraine. He added that when the oil prices make such a huge leap, the fertilizer price will also increase. Noting, that despite the removal of taxes on gasoline and diesel (from 50% to 0) “there is nothing that we can do because the price has gone up. So we recognise that fertiliser is a big input into agriculture and particularly in the rice industry, and if people have to spend more on fertilizer it will cut their profit margins so we wanted to do something to help and that is why we set aside this sum of money.”
Jagdeo posited that food security and agriculture will be an integral part of the future for the country but that while the country is producing oil and gas, emphasis must be placed on the agriculture sector.
“…we know that there is a future here for agriculture because we are the only net food exporter in the Caribbean…we know that the world will have seafood shortages, but this would be happening even more for two reasons. One; the world population is growing and secondly; they are eating differently now, as income grows, people demand more and diverse types of more of the resource-intensive crops that are on the demand side”, he added. The VP noted that agriculture can be done in a scientific way to have greater output and as such, investments will continue with the expansion of shade houses, the implementation of vertical farming among other things.

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