Minister commits to finding ways of assisting millers to recoup losses

-after loss of Venezuela rice market

Millers who lost millions of dollars after Guyana lost the lucrative rice market in neighbouring Venezuela back in 2015, have continued to seek assistance from the Government to offset their losses.

Today, a group of millers from Essequibo who suffered over $800 million in losses, met Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha during his ‘Farmers Open Day’ meetings seeking assistance.

The millers said they had purchased large quantities of paddy with the expectation of exporting to Venezuela, but were forced sell their paddy on the local market for less than half the cost they paid.

Mr. Ramesh Ramlakhan said after being forced to sell his paddy at a loss he still had to pay his bank loans.

“When we didn’t get those payments, we lost the capital but we still owed the bank. Everyone that has a rice mill has an overdraft or a loan to the bank. There’s a commitment there where the bank is still charging us interest,” he said.

Another miller, Mr. Wazir Hussain said he is currently engaged in court cases with the bank for outstanding debts.

“There was a quota system set up. If you purchased, for instance, 100,000 bags of paddy, 30 per cent would be shipped to Venezuela. The rest would be sold to other international markets. As it is now, it is very difficult. The bank took me to court. I have a court hearing almost every month. I have another court date in March and if I lose, I might lose my place. I also had 28 containers of rice that I delivered to the Rice Board in May/June of 2015 and still haven’t received payment,” he said.

After listening to their concerns, Minister Mustapha said the Government is aware of the issue and is examining ways to provide support.

The group of millers who met with Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

“We’re looking at ways to help millers both from the financial institution aspect and from the Government level but I cannot make a commitment today on what we will do. It’s a lot of money so as a Government, we have work on a mechanism to assist millers who were affected when the market collapsed under the previous administration.

In the meantime, I’ve asked my officers from GRDB to get a list of all the millers who were affected. I’ll be meeting with the Guyana Rice Millers’ Association soon to discuss this and a number of other issues,” Minister Mustapha said.

The Minister also told the millers that he will continue to engage Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Hon. Dr. Ashni Singh on a way forward.

The millers also sought an update on sums owed from Panama for rice exported in 2018 and 2019.

Minister Mustapha informed the group that he is scheduled to have another meeting with the Panamanian Minister of Agriculture soon to get an update on the matter. He also said the Government has engaged international agencies to assist with recouping the funds owed.

Following the meeting, Mr. Ramlakhan said that he was happy to finally have an audience with the Minister of Agriculture after several attempts to meet the previous Minister proved futile.

“We couldn’t reach him. He never wanted to meet with us and nobody listened to us. I’m happy there is a new Government with a Minister that is open to listening to us so that we can get some sort of assistance. We still owe farmers and we want to be able to pay them because they have families too,” Mr. Ramlakhan said.