By Staff Writer
The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) on Friday commissioned a $10M drying floor at Riverstown, Essequibo Coast. Guyana Standard understands that it was constructed by A. Bacchus Contracting and Trucking Services.
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha who officiated the commissioning by spreading paddy onto the asphalt structure, urged farmers from the area to make full use of the facility.
He said the facility was constructed following requests made by farmers during a visit to the Region earlier in the year.
According to Minister Mustapha, once farmers make requests for those facilities to be constructed, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture will work to facilitate those requests. He also said over the next four years, the government will be opening more lands for agricultural development and making more facilities like the drying floor available to farmers.
“As a government, we recognize that the rice industry has and will continue to earn a lot of revenue for the country. Therefore, we have been making the necessary investments in the sector. If we are to achieve our target of doubling paddy production within the next four years, we have to open up more lands and make the necessary facilities available to you, the farmers. When we took government a little over a year ago, a number of agriculture inputs were taxable. We’ve since removed those taxes and farmers have more money in their pockets,” Minister Mustapha said.
The official further noted that GRDB has been working to develop new varieties of paddy with higher yields per acre.
“Our scientists have been working to create new varieties to increase your yields per acre. Only last year we launched the GRDB16. That variety, with good farming practices, has the potential to increase the national average from an average of 40 to 45 bags per acre to about 55 to 60 bags per acre. We are also working to develop another type of rice through the GRDB and IICA,” expressed the Minister. In this regard, he noted that it is a biofortified rice variety enriched with Zinc. He said too that it is healthier and could also attract preferential prices on the international markets. Minister Mustapha said he is optimistic that by May of next year, farmers can have that as a candidate variety for their fields.
Farmers who were present at the commissioning expressed thanks to the Ministry for acting on the request made by the farmers to construct the drying floor.
