By Hgptv

Copyright hgptv

Georgetown, Guyana – September 30, 2025 – Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has accused former Finance Minister Winston Jordan of turning his back on the very people who put food on Guyana’s tables.

Responding to Jordan’s recent suggestion that small farmers should exit the rice industry, Mustapha said the remarks were not only reckless but also insulting to the thousands of families who depend on rice to earn a living.

“Rice is not just business, it is bread, it is school fees, it is dignity for thousands of Guyanese families,” Mustapha stressed. “To tell small farmers to walk away from their livelihoods shows a callous disregard for their struggles.” The minister reminded the public of what he called the “coalition government’s shameful neglect” of the rice sector between 2015 and 2020. Farmers, he said, were repeatedly told rice was “a private business,” even as they faced mounting difficulties.

Mustapha recalled that when Panama defaulted on payments for rice exports under the coalition, the administration simply walked away, leaving farmers to fend for themselves. He added that it was only under the PPP/C government that those outstanding payments were finally secured.

By contrast, Mustapha said President Irfaan Ali’s administration has placed farmers at the center of its strategy for growth. Plans are underway to expand national storage to five million tonnes, boost research into high-yield rice varieties, and open new streams of income through ventures like cage crab farming. “We will not abandon rice farmers, we are investing to keep them competitive and to make the sector more resilient,” Mustapha declared.

He argued that Jordan’s comments ignore the fact that rice is more than a commercial crop, it is the backbone of rural communities, a pillar of food security, and part of Guyana’s identity. “This government will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with rice farmers,” Mustapha said, “while others only remember them when it suits their politics.”