Rice farmers on the Essequibo Coast yesterday staged a massive protest in Anna Regina, Region 2 demanding higher prices for their paddy and a reduction in the price of fertilizer. The frustrated Rice Farmers are calling for an increase in the price of paddy from the meager $3500 to $5000. Last week our publication reported that Black Bush Polder, a small farming community in East Berbice Corentyne, also protested the cutting of the price for paddy by millers.
Millers had cut back on the price paid per tonne of rice from $70,000 to $65,000 in light of rising costs for fuel to run their factories among other issues associated with the cost of commodities in the marketplace. The Guyana Chronicle newspaper in its January 19, 2020 edition, reported that PPP Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali, at a rally, at Anna Regina Car Park, Damon Square, promised that VAT will be removed from all agriculture equipment and machinery which will enable farmers to step closer to profitability. He assured the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region residents that should the PPP party win the elections on March 2, 2020, the Government of Guyana would take full responsibility for the rice industry.
Sadly, since being installed into office in August of 2020 by way of questionable votes, the PPP regime’s economic management of the Guyanese economy has been one abysmal failure after the next; as is evident with the many protests across the country. In an invited comment, APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Shurwayne Holder revealed that Rice Farmers are paying over $10,000 per bay for fertilizer today, compared to $5,000 per bag under the APNU+AFC Government.
Holder is calling on the Government to keep its promises to the Rice Farmers and save the industry from impending collapse. It was APNU+AFC Shadow Minister of Finance Juretha Fernandes who warned Guyanese of the installed PPP measures in the 2022 budget. She predicted that by the end of this fiscal year the PPP bad policies would lead to an 11% inflation rate. Far from the 3% the Finance Minister Ashni Singh is forecasting.
