By INEWS

Copyright inewsguyana

Rice millers have agreed to increase their offer to $3,000 per bag of paddy, following discussions with government officials and other key stakeholders across the country.

The announcement was made by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who met with rice farmers in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Wednesday.

The meeting was led by President Dr. Irfaan Ali and also included Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh. It came in response to mounting concerns from rice farmers nationwide over the declining prices being offered for their paddy.

President Ali acknowledged the complexity of the issue, noting that it is influenced by broader global market dynamics.

“We have to talk to the markets. This is not about us, anybody fighting each other. One thing you all know for sure is that you have the government that supports you, we are going to work with you. Because we love you and we genuinely want you to succeed,” the Head of State assured.

“The situation is very complex at the moment because you have dumping, you have falling prices, you have oversupply, you have a bumper crop all over the world. You have markets that have outstanding money for millers. So it’s a very complex environment we are operating in,” he explained.

Noting that in all the rice-producing regions the government will be building storage facilities, President Ali pointed out that much emphasis will be placed on stockpiling.

“So we can stockpile, we have to have the capacity nationally to stockpile maybe five million tonnes of rice because we want rice to succeed, we want you to continue to plant, we want you to continue to invest in better varieties to give you higher yield.”

He noted that the appropriate infrastructure will have to be in place to support those investments.

Meanwhile, Mustapha, addressing the farmers, pointed out that the government would have directly injected $2 billion into the pockets of farmers through the subsidy of $300 per bag of paddy sold to millers during the first cop of this year.

Millers had agreed to pay $3700 per bag of paddy, with the government contributing $300 to ensure that the rice farmers receive no less than $4000 per bag of paddy sold to the mills.

The $2 billion, he noted, is not included in the cost for fertiliser supplied to farmers for the second rice crop, which they are currently harvesting.

Global rice prices have experienced a decline this year. This is due to a combination of factors affecting supply and demand dynamics.

One key driver is the resumption of exports from major rice-producing countries such as India and Vietnam, following earlier restrictions and tight supply in 2023 and early 2024.

Improved weather conditions have also contributed to higher yields in parts of Asia, leading to increased global supply. As a result, international buyers are seeing more options and negotiating lower prices, pushing down the average price per metric tonne. Additionally, inflationary pressures in many importing countries have dampened demand, as buyers seek to manage their food import bills more conservatively.

The Agriculture Minister and Finance Minister met with millers on Tuesday on these matters.

“From the meeting yesterday (Tuesday), two of the millers in Berbice have increased their price to $3,000… We were talking to the rice millers again to go back to the price that we had increased the price. So this is a work in progress. We are continuing to meet with them… We will continue to see what more we can have. So that is the update we have had up to now.”

Meanwhile, President Ali pointed out that his government will continue to engage the markets overseas and the millers and farmers locally.

“I have instructed the minister to go all across the country to meet with the farmers. They will come back to me in 14 days with a full report. We will discuss it at the Cabinet and then we will see what type of initiative we can pursue,” he said.