Additional steps being taken to protect rice farmers’ interests

Georgetown: The Ministry of Agriculture will be collaborating with the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) to ensure that equipment at rice mills are properly calibrated, an additional measure to protect the interests of rice farmers.

Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that random spot checks are also being done at the various rice mills to ensure malpractices that disadvantage rice farmers are reduced.
“I do believe that millers sometimes have practices that are disadvantageous to the farmers,” he said. “This is something we are all working with. I have always supported the farmers and the millers have been cooperating with us, putting measures in place to prevent any malpractice.”
The Minister stated that in addition to spot checks and efforts to ensure correct calibration, representatives from the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) are also present at the various mills when rice farmers’ paddies are weighed and graded.
He noted too that audits of the rice mills are done to ensure all practices are the correct ones.
“We have also repeatedly asked farmers themselves to be present at the mills when their paddy is being weighed and graded, so that they could represent their cause,” he said.
Dr. Ramsammy noted that farmers have been afforded opportunities for training to ensure that they are able to effectively represent their cause.
He said, “Just like we train the technicians to do grading, we train farmers and this is ongoing. We have done training in all of the rice producing regions. We have conducted several such training and we will continue to train farmers and will continue to do so, because when farmers are trained, they can pick up on malpractices and represent their cause.”
The Agriculture Minister added that rice farmers are also supported by the Ministry through its extension services.
“We concede that there is work to do and it is not a perfect system, but we are working on this,” Dr. Ramsammy said.