Guyana produces record rice harvest

Guyana exported 320,000 tonnes of rice this year from record production of 360,000 tonnes.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said the sector had performed beyond expectations.

"The rice sector has been one of the more exciting sectors in terms of performance, because at the start of the year we were very fearful about the performance of the rice industry in light of the El Niño condition; but we were able to minimise and ensure that the investments we made in water management gave us value for our money," he said.

According to official figures, Guyana exported 89 per cent of its rice.

Persaud said that as demand for the commodity increases, because of the shortfall on the world market, requests have been made for Guyana to support other countries apart from Venezuela.

But he said this was being done in a manner that would ensure an adequate supply on the local market.

Persaud said that the Burma Rice Research Station had released two new varieties of rice last year while a flood-tolerant variety, a collaborative effort with the International Rice Research Institute, was soon to be introduced to the market.

The new varieties account for 30 per cent of the acreages being sown for the next crop.

"These were done particularly with climate change in mind, to withstand long, dry and wet periods. A lot of emphasis was also put into looking at other varieties, so that farmers can benefit," he said.

Flood-resilient rice has been successfully achieved in Asia, and it can survive completely submerged for up to 17 days.

The Guyana Rice Development Board has released 10 blast-resistant varieties, and is also focused on developing aromatic rice tolerant to salt, and disease resilient.

"We were also working with farmers in terms of sensitisation and having outreaches both during El Niño and in anticipation of the end-of-year rainy season, given some of the projections we had going out very early to farmers and giving them advice on how it is they need to respond to the weather condition," Persaud said.

The Ministry of Agriculture said there are now 66 licensed rice mills in Guyana.

- CMC