Government accepts massive purchase of rice from Guyana

The Government of Juan Carlos Varela yesterday reacted to the massive purchase of rice from Guyana through a 'hidden' agreement between our countries which has made the Panamanian producers go bankrupt.

In a terse announcement, the Panamanian Government accepted yesterday that we have bought rice from Guyana which supposedly allows consumers to buy 20 pounds at $ 5 per bag, since through this agreement they managed to buy a quintal of the grain at $25 instead of $45 just as last administration did.

Notwithstanding, nowhere in the statement has the Government revealed how much rice is being purchased from Guyana and what the specific commitments of the agreement signed in August 2014 are, just after a few days upon Varela´s taking office as President.

The Government only says that $ 50 million has been saved out of the purchase of rice from Guyana, without explaining the formula used to reach that figure, or whether they are adding maritime, local transportation costs, and that before it was national rice against a rice being imported from a country that subsidizes it.

All figures presented yesterday by the Government were refuted and described as false by the producers themselves who claim that behind the agreement with Guyana lie the private interests of a high official of the Varela administration who bought a mill in the South American country.

Omar Williams, Vice President of the National Federation of Rice Producers in Panama, said that representatives of the Government seem to not know what the reality of this agricultural sector is, since the published figures are completely false.

He added that in the statement yesterday, the Government talks about a purchase of 70 million dollars in rice from local producers, something they considered to be away of any possibility in Panama. "If they had purchased 70 million dollars in rice from us, there would be no grain to supply the mills or sell to private businesses. They are just playing with the numbers", said Williams.

He said that the Government also speaks about savings of 50 million dollars out of the rice purchased from Guayana, but what they do not say is that the costs of production three years ago were far higher than the current ones, mainly for the cost of fuel which is now much lower.

He pointed out that the only thing certain is that this year the protests carried out by the rice producers kept the imports from Guyana halted, and they handle information that the Government made a new purchase of 70 million pounds of rice. "This takes place while the Ministry of Agriculture still owes money to local farmers for the purchase of rice for a price that almost does not represent any profit", said Williams, who affirms to have information that a senior official of the government of President Varela owns a rice mill business in Guyana.

The National Federation of Rice Producers of Panama confirmed yesterday that the Government has refused to give them information about the agreement for massive imports of rice signed with Guyana, reason that they had to file on May 17 a habeas data before the Supreme Court of Justice. Even Minister of Agriculture, Eduardo Carles, denied this information after producers had made two formal requests, one on January 20 and another on on March 28.

However, releases from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Guyana reveal some figures about the agreement concerned. They even claim that Panama saved rice farmers in Guyana from going bankrupt, after they faced the loss of the Venezuelan market, while in Panama the rice producers complain that they are currently facing their worst crisis.

On August 16, 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture of Guyana issued a press release that announced the signing of the memorandum with Panama. "Guyana commits to provide 5,000 tons of rice to Panama monthly, starting in September," says the note dated in August 2014, at the beginning of Varela´s government.

The note from the Ministry of Agriculture of Guyana specified that contracts to export rice to Panama should continue thorugh year 2015.

On March 18, 2016, Guyana Ministry of Agriculture revealed more details on the massive export of rice to Panama.

The note from the Government of Guyana States textually: "To this end, the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, received a call from  representatives of the Institute of Agricultural Marketing in the city of Panama (IMA), Eduardo Carles, now Minister of Agriculture of Panama. During the successful phase of discussions, Panamanian IMA announced its commitment to import more rice from Guyana. This will allow more than 11 thousand 300 tons of rice sent to the Spanish-speaking country during the next three months. The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), during the initial phase of the negotiations, sent approximately 7,500 tons of rice to Panama. The increase in the quota will significantly help rice farmers throughout the country."