This season, 27,000 ha of paddy were planted, which represents an increase of 9,000 ha over the previous season. To enhance the circumstances for rice cultivation, numerous actions have been performed. The goal, according to Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) Minister Parmanand Sewdien, is to increase the final sowing to more than 80,000 hectares annually within the next two years. This has a significant impact on both the worldwide food scarcity as well as the Caricom’s “25/25 Vision.”
The past few seasons have been extremely difficult for rice growers due to flooding and unfavorable weather. They could not have done the necessary dry soil preparation for at least 3 seasons. This spring the conditions were much better, so that they have brought in their entire crop and have also been able to do dry tillage.
LVV reports that the government has also made a major contribution to the maintenance of dry and wet infrastructure. Currently, the small and medium-sized rice farmers are partly compensated for the damage they have suffered from floods and rat infestation in the past period, due to the provision of urea fertilizer.
Simultaneously, the Ministry of LVV is working on the pumping stations in Wageningen and Wakay and various structures, including the Arawara lock. In the various polders, farmers are busy organizing themselves into cooperatives to be able to use cheap credits under favorable conditions from the coming season, which are offered by NOFA. Last week, the Ministry of LVV once again topped up the NOFA fund with SRD 100 million. The fund will be further strengthened at the beginning of next year.
