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FM
Former Member

Marketing and Sale of rice must match that of rum   -Pres. Granger tells rice conference

The President said it is his personal belief that rice, which is Guyana’s largest foreign exchange earner, was “too big to fail” and guaranteed that his government comes to office with a vision to sustain and improve the industry.

Marketing and Sale of rice must match that of rum -Pres. Granger tells rice conference

In the face of mounting challenges to Guyana’s rice industry, President David Granger on Monday assured scores of rice farmers and millers that the future of the industry in Guyana is “bright”, even as he pledged the government’s support for the private sector led trade.

The President said it is his personal belief that rice, which is Guyana’s largest foreign exchange earner, was “too big to fail” and guaranteed that his government comes to office with a vision to sustain and improve the industry.

Mr. Granger reasoned however, that Guyana’s rice was too expensive and as a consequence its competitiveness on international markets was experiencing setbacks.

“The problems in the industry can be overcome by cooperation and not confrontation. I am confident that there is a bright future for rice… rice is not in crisis, we have problems but the industry is not on the face of collapse,”Mr. Granger assured the thousands of Guyanese who depend on the staple for their livelihood.

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He was at the time delivering the feature address at a National Rice Industry Conference which he had promised to facilitate while running for President earlier this year.

Currently Guyana is seeing setbacks with its shipment of rice to neighboring Venezuela, which is a major buyer, with no clear indication whether the current agreement will be renewed when it expires later this year.

President Granger said even though more than 75% of Guyana’s rice production is sold to over 40 countries across the world, new markets must be found and pledged the administration’s commitment to overcoming the barriers to market access.

He called on private exporters to also demonstrate their capacity to penetrate foreign markets. “If we are good at selling rum, we must also be good at selling rice… farmers must understand the need to reduce production costs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder explained that some of the major challenges to the industry were drying and storage; marketing and compliance by millers and improving varieties. He said government was mulling the establishment of a revolving fund to alleviate the woes of rice farmers who have been battling with millers over late payments.

rice

The Agriculture Minister said the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is currently carrying out research to overcome the challenges of cost and Guyana’s competitiveness on the world market. “It is a long road ahead but good work is already on the way,” Holder added.

He implored millers and exporters to partnership with government to find and sustain markets. The National Rice Industry conference comes at a time when there appears to be uncertainty in the rice sector and while there are complaints about a slowdown in the economy. (Kurt Campbell)

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I hope granger knows some japanese who could help us make premium saki since lacking that we have very little option to break even with rice over rum on the international market. He needed to tell the truth. We have lots of rice but little market. We need to rethink investment in the production side and maximize the distribution side.

FM

Dem boys gotta start make lotsa rice cake and introduce it to N.A. We are constantly bombarded with that dam cereal stuff they use here as some sort of cake, rice cake would do better. No joke yeh.

cain
Originally Posted by cain:

Dem boys gotta start make lotsa rice cake and introduce it to N.A. We are constantly bombarded with that dam cereal stuff they use here as some sort of cake, rice cake would do better. No joke yeh.

Rice Krispies was the PPP strategy to save the industry...I wonder what happened to that election ploy about the opening of the factory? If it was so real how come we have not heard of it? I remember a picture of the entire cabal of the PPP trying out the product that would save us.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

The number of rice farmers has increased, despite the terrible condictions of the dams and poor access to rice lands. I hope the president's words will bear fruit. Rice farmers are in need of infrastructural developments for rice-farming operations, and of social developments to maintain their sanity.

A

There was a time, Village Councils were better managed than any of the governments so far-since independence.

 

Leaders have no vision. Their only objective is to be a President.

 

I would think, it is a government's obligation to do all that is necessary to ensure production of any type of commodity is processed with the least of set backs. They must be pro-active. 

 

The mistake for the Third World(in particular Guyana) is to believe the Private Sector is going to do it for them. Then the government have little control of what takes place. The government must have a plan and the Private Sector follows the game.

 

 

S
Originally Posted by Stormborn:
Originally Posted by cain:

Dem boys gotta start make lotsa rice cake and introduce it to N.A. We are constantly bombarded with that dam cereal stuff they use here as some sort of cake, rice cake would do better. No joke yeh.

Rice Krispies was the PPP strategy to save the industry...I wonder what happened to that election ploy about the opening of the factory? If it was so real how come we have not heard of it? I remember a picture of the entire cabal of the PPP trying out the product that would save us.

It was being prepped in E'bo.

FM
Originally Posted by Stormborn:

I hope granger knows some japanese who could help us make premium saki since lacking that we have very little option to break even with rice over rum on the international market. He needed to tell the truth. We have lots of rice but little market. We need to rethink investment in the production side and maximize the distribution side.

Is weh you deh, down deh or up hey tapping the keyboard?

FM

We both in GY cyclin. Hear nuh. We ask dem boys here what we s'pose to scared of, dem boys say, "look, jus stay away from the internet because they got some crazy ass peeps dem who sayin black people dem ah beat an rape an shoot up dem chrien dem an how dem doin a ethnix cleanse."

 

They end it saying..."dem people dem stupid bad man."

cain
Last edited by cain

The problem with rice crispies, rice biscuits and rice cereal is that rice is only one component of the product.  There are a bunch of other ingredients that need to be imported using foreign currency. 

 

If research and development into alternative rice products had continued from the 1970s then we as a nation may have been able to come up with local substitutes for those ingredients by now.

Wally
Last edited by Wally

Rice from certain regions of the world is high in contamination like cyanide etc. That's because of industrial activities in those regions, with the waste somehow ending up in the same water that the padi is grown in. Guyana does not have that problem. So we should use that factor in our marketing as well. Many rice sellers have now started to do just that.

Mr.T
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

Rice from certain regions of the world is high in contamination like cyanide etc. That's because of industrial activities in those regions, with the waste somehow ending up in the same water that the padi is grown in. Guyana does not have that problem. So we should use that factor in our marketing as well. Many rice sellers have now started to do just that.

I know someone who's now going through a cleansing program because of her diet. She's from El Salvador and rice is one of their main foods, this she has practically everyday. The woman started breaking out with small bumps which went all over her body.

She was recently diagnosed with high cyanide levels.

cain

yes!  There is one change.  Instead of destroying the rice industry, The alliance is using it to feed the nation.  I am glad my brothers and sisters can help.  Now!  The Government must pay the rice farmers their money instead of using it to pay teachers, police, army and civil servants.

R

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