By KNEWS

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Essequibo farmers ask Govt. ‘what next’ as paddy prices remain low

Oct 04, 2025
News

– say officials visited region every week before elections

By Anasa Williams

(Kaieteur News) – Farmers in Essequibo, Region Two, are enquiring about their next move, as prices for paddy remain at an all-time low, with no intervention from government anywhere on the horizon, and the rate of paddy dumping continues to grow.

Kaieteur News ventured to Essequibo on Friday, to get a first-hand view of the troubles of farmers in the region, who for weeks have been complaining about the minimal prices per bad of paddy.

The first site visited was Hack’s Rice Mill, Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast. Trucks, tractors and trailers were observed parked in lines that appear to be endless, from the road front all the way to the mill.

The vehicles loaded with paddy belonged to several farmers who were waiting in line for days to offload their produce in hopes that they were not too late.

While farmers are in deep worry, securing interviews proved a task, as several of them explained that they were fearful of being victimised by government officials, the millers and staff of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).

The farmers were overheard lamenting that the government seems to have abandoned them and before the elections, officials were in the region every week.

After some coaxing and explaining that if they wanted betterment for the sector, they had to stick together, farmer Adjuda Narayan told this publication that the current price being offered at $2300 per bag is far below the cost of production.

“You can’t make nothing and it nah mek sense you continue to plant rice, but on the other hand, the government gotta implement something for farmers to survive, if they nah plant,” he stressed.

Narayan informed this publication that he is in the process of cutting, but it has been difficult to get combine harvesters due to the number of farmers trying to harvest their crop simultaneously.

“Is five and six days to discharge at this one mill, this ah the only mill buying paddy from so many farmers right not. The other mill, CARICOM Rice Mill, ah buy chosen farmer paddy, not everybody paddy” he added.

Narayan further explained that due to wait times and other factors, many crops are becoming overripe, and these are rejected by the mill. In this case, you have to either dump the paddy or dry it yourself.

In addition to their woes, the farmer lamented that the government has been silent throughout. “They nah come down and seh nothing, whether to plant or nah plant or suh, but if deh seh nah fuh plant, farmers have to depend on something for survival.”

Another farmer who withheld his name for fear of victimisation, told Kaieteur News that only a few of the 13 rice mills in Essequibo are in operation. He confirmed that another miller called ‘Dickie’ began purchasing paddy on Thursday from farmers, however, they have not yet been paid.

“Johnny is buying very well and he paying, CARICOM say the government owes them some money, if they pay him, he gonna buy. Right now, he ah buy, but he not buying nuff paddy,” he said.

The farmer explained that the owner for CARICOM Rice Mill, Tamesh Jagmohan, is taking paddy from farmers who owes him for fertiliser or has worked his land.

“We try to protest and they stop we, saying that the minister gon come down, that is Mustapha and the reason he didn’t come the time is because he had birthday. That is about two weeks ago and he never show up onto now. The government put us in a boat and left,” another chimed in.

This publication reached out to Tamesh Jagmohan to understand how he is handling the situation and he said that, “We are doing our best to help the situation, that is all I can tell you.”

Rice farmer, contractor and pandit, Vishnu Seecharan took Kaieteur News to his home and fields to explain how he is being affected. Arriving at Seecharan’s home, heaps of paddy were observed on the roadways.

“I had to bring my paddy and dump it out here and the I will put it in trucks and send it to Georgetown for market. If I wait in these lines up here, I will lose more than I already did because it will spoil,” he said.

The elderly man said he has been harvesting in sections. He said if it rains and the combine harvester cannot reach to certain sections of the field, those areas are usually left alone.

Farmer John (only name given) ventured to his 10 acres field along the same road with Seecharan’s to show his crop. From afar, it looked like a lush yellow carpet ready for harvest, however a closer look revealed something way more sinister. The rice plants were severely bent and, in some areas, flattened.

“The rice lay down flat here and it is 128 days old. This variety will reach maturity in 120 days, but I don’t want to cut it for the current price, it makes no sense. Since it has been out here this long even if prices do raise, I will still lose because the rice will get light. It ain’t supposed to be out here for so long,” John explained.

Farmers in Essequibo, earlier this month, held a massive protest in Anna Regina over the prices being offered for their paddy and the huge amount that has been left to spoil on their hands.

In a telephone interview with Mr. Nazeer (only name given), he told this publication that the protest was organised to seek reprieve, as a lot of crops were spoiled in the fields and farmers were losing millions.

“The government side of things are mum. They ain’t have any active solutions in place, even though they know that’s the problem with the system. It’s taking four days to offload the paddy trucks from the trailer to the mill and it’s spoiling in the tractors because it can’t get discharge,” he lamented.

Another farmer in a separate video said that, “If we ain’t get a good price, we paddy can’t sell. We pay extra price and cost for the drugs we spray. You could have get $2000 for a small bottle of thing now it’s $3200.”

A third farmer lamented, “Right now, we deh out hay concerning this paddy price, and we need a better price for this paddy, so we calling on the President and the Honourable Agricultural Minister to come and visit us to tell us something concerning this paddy price. Yeah, as you could see, a lot of people is out there. They are not comfortable, so please come and visit us.”

Recently, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha assured Guyanese that his government will not abandon rice farmers.

The agriculture minister said that the Irfaan Ali-led administration has shown a different approach with the president meeting farmers himself only recently on the Corentyne Coast.

Mustapha highlighted that government plans to increase the national storage capacity across rice-producing regions to allow Guyana to stockpile up to five million tonnes of rice.

“President Ali also spoke about investing in better rice varieties to deliver higher yields and maintain competitiveness in global markets, and the introduction of agri-business diversification. This will include high-value initiatives such as cage farming for crabs to boost cash flow and reduce risks for farmers,” Mustapha relayed.

This newspaper understands that the cost per bag of paddy has declined from $4,000 to $2,800. It was reported that government previously expressed its commitment to engage rice farmers and millers to assess and address the situation as soon as possible.

President Ali alluded to an “all-time” high rice production, during a press conference. He said, “When you look at the rice production globally, is it an all-time high, with major producers, exporters such as India, Vietnam and Brazil, having record levels of production, not only record levels of production, but record level of stockpile.” Consequently, Ali explained that this glut in the market is responsible for the low prices.

dumping, Essequibo, Essequibo farmers, GoG, paddy prices, rice, Rice farmers, rice mill