Rice production in Guyana facts for kids
Rice production in Guyana is very important for the country. It's a main food source for people living there and also one of Guyana's biggest exports. This means Guyana grows a lot of rice and sells it to other countries.
The country of Venezuela buys the most rice from Guyana. Guyana also sells its rice to other Caribbean countries, like Trinidad and Tobago, and to countries in Europe.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 486 | 431 | 455 | 414 | 496 | 520 | 530 |
Contents
A Look Back: Rice in Guyana
How Rice Came to Guyana
Rice first arrived in Guyana in 1738. A Dutch governor named Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande brought it. He wanted to grow rice to feed the enslaved people working on sugar farms.
Later, many workers came from India to Guyana. They were called indentured workers. After their work contracts ended, many of them bought land. They started growing rice on these lands. This made the demand for rice much higher.
By 1896, Guyana was growing more rice than its people needed. So, the country sent its first shipment of rice to Trinidad. This was the start of rice exports!
Growing the Rice Business
The Great War (World War I) made it hard to export rice internationally. So, Guyana focused on selling rice to nearby countries.
In 1939, a special group was set up to manage all rice sales. After World War II, Guyana became the main rice supplier for the West Indies. This meant they had almost all the business in that region.
From 1946 to 1950, Guyana produced about 61,181 tons of rice paddy (raw rice). They exported about 22,991 tons. In 1946, two important groups were formed: the British Guiana Rice Producers Association and the British Guiana Rice Marketing Board. These groups helped buy and sell all the rice grown in the colony.
By 1956, Guyana was known as the 'bread basket of the Caribbean'. This means it produced a lot of food for the region. When Guyana became independent in 1966, it was producing 167,600 tons of rice paddy.
Rice After Independence
After Guyana became independent from British rule, the government wanted the country to be self-sufficient. This meant they wanted Guyana to produce enough food for its own people.
Rice was seen as Guyana's most important home-grown food. The government even stopped people from importing wheat, which many Guyanese were used to eating. They also banned other imported foods. These rules were quite unpopular. Still, people tried to make new rice products that were like foods made from wheat.
Most rice farms in Guyana were owned by private families or companies. However, the government managed the irrigation systems (which bring water to the fields) and the rice-processing mills. One big exception was Kayman Sankar. His farms had their own mills and facilities for processing rice.
This setup caused some problems. The government sometimes didn't take good care of the irrigation and drainage canals. This was because private farmers didn't want to pay taxes for their upkeep. Also, the government-run mills were often slow to pay farmers for their rice. There were also issues with getting tractors, fuel, spare parts, and fertilizer to farmers.
Rice Exports in the 1980s
During the 1980s, selling rice to other countries became even more important. This was because it brought in foreign money for Guyana. There were even stories of rice being smuggled out of the country.
Guyana and its neighbor Suriname shared a special agreement to export rice to the European Economic Community (EEC). But in the late 1980s, Guyana couldn't even fill its part of this agreement.
Rice production reached a high point of over 180,000 tons in 1984. But it dropped to 130,000 tons in 1988. This was due to plant diseases and unpredictable weather. Both droughts (not enough rain) and heavy rains hurt the rice crops. This happened because the water systems in rice-growing areas were not well maintained.
The amount of land used for growing rice also decreased. It went from 100,000 hectares in 1964 to only 36,000 hectares in 1988.
In 1988, the government aimed to produce 240,000 tons of rice by 1991. They also hoped to export 100,000 tons. However, in early 1990, exports dropped to a very low 16,000 tons. Half of this came from private farmers, and the other half from a government company. In 1990, the government started selling off some of its rice mills to private companies. This was part of making the rice industry more private.
Rice Production Since 2000
In 2013, the goal for rice production was 412,000 tonnes. Reports showed that Guyana would actually produce even more than this. This was good news, even though there was a very wet August and a lot of paddy bugs that damaged some of the first crop.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who was the Minister of Agriculture, said that the rice industry would produce over 500,000 tonnes. Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj, from the Rice Producers Association, also said that the weather was perfect for harvesting. This meant that rice harvesting was going well in all parts of Guyana where rice is grown.
In 2019, Guyana produced more than 1 million tons of rice paddy. The country is now looking for ways to make more products from rice. This means they want to add value to the rice they grow, not just sell it as raw grain.
