Gov’t has to intervene on behalf of struggling rice farmers
Dear Editor,
I am aware that APNU+AFC are busy licking their wounds right now. But they lost the No-Confidence vote in Parliament because they have consistently ignored the injustices perpetuated on citizens around the country every single day. Among people who have endured gross injustices are the rice farmers, the men and women who have ensured that Guyana’s economy since 2015 remained positive. In the midst of an economy that has remained stubbornly stagnated since May 2015, the rice farmers have represented the one bright spot in the economic architecture of our country. Yet APNU+AFC have wholly abandoned the rice farmers, left them to wallow in injustice.
While quite understandably everyone’s attention is focused on the no-confidence motion that has now resulted in APNU+AFC forced to hold elections by March 21st, 2019, I am obligated to highlight the dire circumstances hundreds of rice farmers and their families are experiencing. Just last Saturday, a few days before Christmas, as highlighted in the Guyana Times of December 23, about 300 farmers stormed the gates of a rice mill complex demanding to meet the owner for their payments. These farmers not only have Christmas on their minds and hoping their family could enjoy the holidays, they have bank loans and expenses for their children they must provide for.
In fact, hundreds of rice farmers have not been paid for paddy sold to millers. Some of them are owed for paddy sold since the first crop of 2018 and others are owed for paddy from the second crop. There are some farmers who are owed for paddy sold since 2017. The Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, has been largely silent on this issue since he assumed the position in May 2015. The only times he has spoken on this matter, he dismissed the problem as a private transaction between millers and farmers. He absolutely disowned the problem. But there is a law, the Rice Factory Act, that clearly assigns the government with responsibility in these transactions. The law makes the government a party to these transactions, even if the government was not at the table.
The government itself, at its highest level, has reiterated the Minister’s position, insisting that the non-payment of farmers for paddy sold is not any business of the government since the transactions are squarely private arrangements between private people, in this case, millers and farmers. The President has affirmed this position and so have other people, like the Prime Minister. But an injustice being endured by any citizen is the business of government. In refusing to intervene, the government is abrogating its responsibility to uphold justice in our country, abdicating its responsibility as laid out in the laws of the country.
The law of the land provides leverage for the government. As Minister of Agriculture, I never caused anyone to lose their licence for operating a rice factory. This does not mean I never used the law; I used the law as leverage and worked in partnership with the millers and farmers to ensure farmers were paid fairly and on time. Government often paid the farmers some or all of what the millers owed them and then forced the millers to pay to the government, through the GRDB. We were not silent then. The government is silent now.
The hands-off posture of APNU+AFC, such as the silence on non-payment of farmers, is totally responsible for Guyana having failed to reach the target of 700,000 tons of rice. After the first crop of 2015, when we reached production of 398,000 tons, Guyana was on target to reach 700,000 tons. But there was a sizeable drop in production in the second crop and Guyana failed to reach the 700,000 tons target. Similar failure was experienced for 2016, 2017 and now 2018. Government has also been silent when farmers experienced problems with irrigation, floods, pests etc.
Guyana has the capacity to reach 1,000,000 tons whenever it chooses to. Guyana has the market to significantly increase its export. But the only way these goals can be achieved is Government by playing a strong role, together with farmers and millers.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy Former Minister of Agriculture