By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Long lines of paddy trucks parked outside of rice mills on the Berbice road is creating a traffic scare for road users.
At the weekend, iNews (www.inewsguyana.com) observed over 30 trucks with paddy parked on both sides of the road at Number 35 Village and in Bush Lot, Berbice.
While this online news service (www.inewsguyana.com) was informed that some millers refused to take in the paddy, Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that he is not aware of this.
When approached by iNews (www.inewsguyana.com), the Agriculture Minister admitted that there is a long line and that is mostly due to the process of grading that the paddy has to undergo.
iNews (www.inewsguyana.com) understands that the rice shipment has not left for Venezuela as yet, thus millers are not taking in more paddy, as they have too much stockpiled already.
A reliable source within the Agriculture Ministry explained to this news site that rice farmers have issued a call for the government to construct a national ‘bin’ to store paddy, however that call has fell on deaf ears.
Guyana is still finalising its agreement with Venezuela for the rice shipment. Based on the agreement, Guyana expects to ship close to 200,000 tons to the neighbouring country.
As a suggestion to the Guyana Gov’t: Why not contract the Venezuelans to build the National storage national “bin” for the storage of paddy. Oayment could be made in rice, a much needed item in Venezuela at the moment. This is a long term investment and will benifit Guyana for generations