A field with rice in bearing stages on the Essequibo Coast
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Vice Chairman of Region Two (Pomeroon – Supenaam) Vishnu Samaroo has announced that the first rice crop on the Essequibo Coast is growing well and a bountiful harvest is expected.
Samaroo said the crop is in various stages of bearing and production is expected to surpass the set target of one million bags of paddy. According to the Vice Chairman some 37,120 acres are cultivated and the crop is blooming under the current weather condition.
The Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) Department of the Region Two Administration is also supplying water to fields in a timely manner via its irrigation network.
Harvesting of the golden grains is expected to begin at the end of February. Rice farmers on the Coast have increased the acreage under cultivation from 32,500 to 37,120 because of Government’s massive investment in terms of making the D&I network more efficient and providing technical support and training through the Guyana Rice Development Board [GRDB] and Rice Producers Association [RPA] to farmers.
The Government each year spends hundreds of millions of dollars through the Regional Administration Capital Programme to construct concrete culverts, regulators, bridges and revetments to enhance the drainage and irrigation network in the rice growing areas so farmers can produce more. Millions of dollars are also spent each year by Government to grade and level access dams in the rice growing areas so farmers can transport their paddy quickly to rice factories after harvest.
