During an outreach to the Corentyne last Saturday, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha visited the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Lesbeholden seed paddy facility. It is one of five such facilities in the country.
The facility, commissioned in 2008, was built at a cost of $ 50 million. In addition to the equipment, a drying floor has also been built to reduce instances of farmers drying paddy on public roads.
Following the tour, Minister Mustapha expressed his disappointment with the current state of the facility. He said budgetary allocations were being made to carry out remediation of that nature and asked the GRDB and the Rice Producers Association (RPA) to provide an estimate for that work to be carried out.
“I am very disappointed that since this facility was built, it has not been implemented. I can’t say exactly what happened but after examining the equipment, I was very shocked to see the condition of the dryer, processor, and generator.
“We have some money in the budget, and I’ve asked the GRDB to work with the RPA to give us an estimate for the repairs. It is very important for us to make this facility operational because we now have many calls for paddy seeds. I don’t think it was ever used. Once we re-establish it, many farmers will be able to benefit, ”said Minister Mustapha.
Minister Mustapha also said trials for the bio-fortified rice are currently underway at the facility.
“If you look around, GRDB has several test plots in the compound, and just like in Burma, there is a section here with the bio-fortified test rice that we are working with IICA to develop. This is why we need to make sure all our facilities are operational to process those types. I will be working aggressively to ensure we have this facility up and running, ”said Minister Mustapha.
In addition, the subject Minister tasked the CEO of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) with ensuring that restoration work was carried out on a building located in the compound attached to the agency. The building once covered with vines and bushes was once used to house extension staff.
“NAREI will have to be more aggressive. The building over there is ugly. Vines and shrubs have taken over the entire building. The former CEO should have seen that these things needed to be done. When you go around the country these are the things we find. I have instructed the new CEO of NAREI to ensure that restoration work is done on this building so that we can get someone living here to ignore this facility, ”said Minister Mustapha.