Rice production has been the star of the agriculture industry for two consecutive years. Given the Ministry of Agriculture’s moves thus far for the first quarter, it appears that position will be maintained for 2022. The Department of Public Information (DPI) disclosed that the ministry is poised to boost paddy exports through the expansion of operations at the Demerara Sugar Terminal at Ramp Road, Ruimveldt. Such a move would facilitate the loading and export of paddy and rice while ultimately reduce costs for millers.
On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, along with members of the Guyana Rice Exporters and Millers Association and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), examined the factory.
Following this, Minister Mustapha said the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), GRDB and members of the millers’ association will form a small committee to conduct a needs assessment. The decision body will then engage the minister with a detailed plan, by next week.
“What needs to be done is the fixing of some conveyer belt and fixing of some parts on the wharf and after that, I think they will have access to use it. This would end the cumbersome system that they have presently, where they use these ton baggage or big baggage to put their paddy in, and they go back to the ship to offload. Here, when they come, they will just load it into the bin and from there it will straight on to the ship holler,” the minister explained.
He also iterated the government’s plans to increase the yields of rice this year, as it moves to expand the rice industry.
Guyana Standard understands from GRDB data that the country’s rice production stood at 886,882 tonnes as of December 26, 2021. The industry also remained resilient, earning some $40 billion from the export of 412,810 tonnes of rice for the period January to November 2021.
This is a significant improvement from the $30 billion earned during the corresponding period in 2020. (Modified from DPI)
