Jagdeo, Chavez talks secures 50,000 tonnes rice market for Guyana's rice.

GRDB General Manager, Jagnarine Singh and Ambassador Dario Morandy exchanging the signed agreement as other officials look on.

Guyana and Venezuela signed a rice deal that was first initiated by President Bharrat Jagdeo who held talks with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez at a United Nations Climate Change meeting in New York last month.
The President’s intervention was necessitated after the rice industry was experiencing difficult times. Farmers were complaining that they were receiving too low a price for paddy from most exporters.
The deal which was signed late last night at the Ministry of Agriculture Boardroom will see the South American country sourcing from Guyana, 50,000 tonnes of rice- of which 10,000 tonnes would be white rice and 40,000 tonnes of paddy at $330US and $560US per metric tonne respectively.
The deal between the two countries will see Guyana earning US$18.8 million when the last set of rice is exported to Venezuela next year February.
According to Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, the Venezuelans will return in five days’ time to do some additional phytosanitary and other inspections and hopefully the first shipment should leave for the Spanish-speaking country as early as the first week in November.