Guyana closer to achieving its 2030 rice production goal

– with 90,713 cultivated during the last crop

Guyana rice production continues to increase as 90,713 hectares of rice were cultivated during the last crop.

This is according to the General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Badrie Persaud on Monday during the launch of the new high-yielding ‘GRDB 18’ rice variety.

The launch took place at Nooten Zuil, East Coast Demerara.

According to the general manager, the country cultivates rice in five main regions. These are Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six.

“We are a very small player in the global production and trade of rice…Together we cultivate rice on 92,000 hectares which is the established acreage,” Persaud noted.

He added that at the end of September, 6.5 tonnes per hectare were recorded, which is equivalent to about 40 bags per acre.

President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali last Thursday said that the goal is to increase the country’s rice yield to 8 tonnes per hectare.

According to Persaud, the 8 tonnes will increase harvesting to about 50 bags per acre.

“While the national average production yield is 6.5 tonnes, there are areas in our rice sector that are doing 7 tonnes. This includes Region Four in the Cane Grove [East Coast Demerara] area which is just over 9,000 acres. At the end of September, they were averaging 7.1 tonnes per hectare,” the general manager stated.

Additionally, at Black Bush Polder in Region Six, some 25,000 acres of rice are being cultivated with the average yield for that location being 7 tonnes per hectare.

“So, there are two areas in Guyana that are doing comparatively well with rice. And it would take very little effort for us to raise it to the 8 tonnes target that was set. We can even reach the target before 2030,” the general manager noted.

The main rice varieties that are cultivated by farmers range between GRDB 10 to 16.  It also includes G98-196.

Meanwhile, recently the GRDB 17, a bio-fortified rice variety, has also been in cultivation. Over 5,000 acres of this rice are being cultivated in the country.

The variety was developed with CARICOM and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

According to the general manager, the GRDB is in the stages of executing a marketing and branding strategy to enable high recognition of the bio-fortified rice both in and out of Guyana.

This rice which is zinc-infused promotes better production and healthier consumption.

The target this year is to produce close 710,000 tonnes of rice as compared to last year’s production of 653,000 tonnes.