Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 15, 2014 News
Essequibo rice farmers are resilient in their call to have an audience with the Ministry of Agriculture to air their concerns of the low prices being offered for paddy and outstanding payments owed to them by millers.
Yesterday the farmers once again staged a protest march from the high bridge at Anna Regina to the Cotton Field New market.
They chanted “We want more than $3000 for a bag of paddy.”
Alliance For Change (AFC) Regional Councillor, Naith Ram is also agitating for the Government to set up a fund through NICIL where millers would be able to borrow monies to effect prompt payments to farmers in exchange for their paddy.
Additionally, Ram is lobbying for the Government to further establish a mill to which both the Government and farmers would have equal access in an attempt to have a more effective and transparent operation, especially in the Region.
Ram stressed that to date almost 60M dollars are still owed to farmers from the previous crop.
According to the Regional councillor, on average, a farmer would invest approximately $600,000 and his returns are way below his investment.
“It cannot pay …we farmers are suffering.”
While farmers continue to protest for better prices, millers are also finding it difficult in sourcing efficient markets for their rice. Most of the millers in the Region are solely reliant on Government to have their rice shipped to Venezuela.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 29, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – After a series of outstanding performances in 2023, Tianna Springer, dubbed the ‘wonder girl’, is eagerly gearing up to compete in this year’s...Kaieteur News – Good Friday in Guyana is not what it used to be. The day has lost much of its solemnity. The one day... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]