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‘Subsidies to rice farmers, a misuse of taxpayers money’ – Jordan
Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Finance under the coalition government, Winston Jordan said the wanton handing out of different subsidies by the PPP/C government is a misuse of taxpayers’ monies.
Former Minister of Finance under the coalition government Winston Jordan
Speaking on the current situation of the rice growing sector on an episode of ‘The Countdown’, Sunday, Jordan said the government has already done everything it can to support the sector.
The subsidies to rice farmers include the removal of the commission from the Guyana Rice Development board (GRDB), distribution of free fertiliser and duty-free concession on machinery and equipment.
“It has provided cash transfers for the farmer. It has provided cash subsidy to subsidise the low price. It is subsidising an insurance premium, and of course, they go easy on farmers when it comes to the purpose of income tax with concession,” Jordan said.
He highlighted that there is not much that can be given to rice farmers except an increase to the price subsidy, “but this is a total misuse of taxpayers money… total misuse of taxpayers’ money in that this whole country is suffering high cost of living all kinds of stories.”
The government has already committed to engaging with rice farmers and millers in order to assess the situation with current prices of paddy and address it as soon as possible.
Farmers across the country have been livid in the drop in the price per bag of paddy, arguing the huge decrease from $4000 to a mere $2,800 is highly unsustainable.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha told Kaieteur last week that “In relation to the prices for paddy, the farmers recently start to harvest it, harvest paddy, and I’ll be looking at that… I haven’t had a chance to talk to farmers to find out what are the real issues. So, in the coming weeks, I’ll be meeting with the farmers, meeting the millers to work with (and) see what systems are in place,” he said.
Mustapha said at the time that he was only made aware that prices had fallen to $2800, so he would have to meet with the Guyana Rice Millers Association (GRMA) as well to have a better understanding of the issue at hand.
“Remember, over the last crop, we would have implemented a system where we make up the price of paddy. So, I’ve been looking at it. I’m not saying that we’ll do it immediately, but I have to listen to the concern, analyse the situation, see what we can do to resolve the matter,” he assured.
He continued, “in relation to paddy bugs, we have a system in place where we are working with farmers to eradicate it and, first of all, to control it and eradicate it. I think we have been very successful over the last three crops,” he said.
The minister added that farmers are provided with chemicals and the expertise of technical staff, who work along with them directly to get the pests under control. It is his opinion that over the last three to four crops damages have been limited.
At a recent press conference held at the Office of the President, President Ali said that this crop is yet another exciting one, however “the international market and international prices are not as exciting as the production itself. So, I wanted to give some amount of information on what is happening in relation to the global market. Now, when you look at the rice production globally, is it an all-time high, with major producers, exporters such as India, Vietnam and Brazil, having record levels of production, not only record levels of production, but record level of stockpile.”
He explained that this glut in the market is as a consequence of it being flooded hence the low prices. The weighted average per ton of white rice is $450 this is according to export quotas at the end of August. This is a $14 reduction from a month ago and a $228 from a year ago.
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