Guyanese rice is arriving in Belize on Thursday - and it seems that has spurred the Government into action to fulfill a commitment it made over eight months ago. April first, that's when government promised a new controlled price for rice, and a new grading system for rice. It should have been ready by May, but it was just announced today - two days before importer Jack Charles lands three containers of Guyanese rice in Belize.
Here's how the new price regime works. It establishes four grades for rice: Extra A Premium, "A", "B" and "C". Now, the one that most folks will end up buying is grade "C" - that's the only one that will have a controlled retail price of ninety cents per pound. That's the lowest grade of raise, with 30% broken grains - but right now it's what most people are paying a dollar and twenty cents for. That's the effect of price gouging by the retailers - and, you might be asking how will they prevent that from happening all over again. Well, that's where another aspect of the new rice regime comes in: all rice will have to be packaged and labeled with the retail price on it. And so while that is intended to ensure that the controlled price holds true for Grade C rice - there are also the other grades. From now on, those will have no controlled price. According to a press release from the bureau of standards that will be, quote, "determined by market forces." So, producers can sell those grades of rice at any price that the market will support and according to the Bureau of standards, this is so that, quote, "the producers can recover their investments in mandatory packaging and extra transportation costs."
The new price regime goes into effect in 8 days time, on December 23rd. Of course, that's far from the end of the story because importer Jack Charles says his three containers of rice will be Premium A Grade, not the broken C grade - and he'll make sure it retails for 69 cents a pound. That's 21 cents less than the controlled price for Grade C - and today the debate on that issue hit a fever pitch - with all sides weighing in.
Importer Jack Charles went on the offensive by getting his technicians to appear on KREM's WUB Morning Show. His main spokesperson is Sergio Garcia, a Regional Trade Specialist, who was once the CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture and an advisor to the Government on Trade. Simultaneously, while Garcia was on national TV and radio, local Rice Farmers and their spokesperson, Dr. Henry Cantun, were also on Channel 5's Morning Show, Open Your Eyes. Both sides were trying to leverage public opinion for or against allowing Guyanese Rice to be imported. Tonight, we have both sides, presenting their arguments and counter arguments on this issue. Here's what they had to say on the topic:
Sergio Garcia, Technical Consultant - JC Rice
"CARICOM products. So the supplies control act of Belize has it very clear and I have the evidence here according to the law that say any products from CARICOM does not require an import license."
Dr. Henry Canton, Chairman - Belize Agro-production Sector
"Mr. Charles does not have the pre-requisite documentation for rice from Guyana to enter Belize as government is so put to us. Caribbean Chicken shipped a container of chickens to Trinidad and that container was rejected by their BAHA and it was not allowed to come off the ship. So we would like to see government take the exact same position that Trinidad took with us. And this rice not having a BAHA permit, that is not allowed to come off the barge from Santo Thomas to Big Creek."
Sergio Garcia, Technical Consultant - JC Rice
"Baha is charged with responsibility to protecting the agricultural health status of the country and an agricultural health status extends a bit to the human health aspects. So let me say this that I think you all are aware that last year rice came in from Guyana which was package by the same producers who are now crying foul and that rice was sold to the Belizean consumers. In terms of the rice coming from Guyana it does not posed any agricultural health risk nor human health risk, Do we want to protect 5 big families that produce the rice and have the rice monopoly? Or do we want to benefit the wider Belizean society?"
Dr. Henry Canton, Chairman - Belize Agro-production Sector
"Monopoly only exist when there is one entity controlling the whole thing. The rice farmers are a group of farmers from Blue Creek. There are also farmers from Shipyard. There are also farmers from Spanish Lookout and there are farmers from the south. In fact I think there are 5 millers and actually 3 packagers who compete against each other in the local market. So they have to be viable competitive among themselves also."
Sergio Garcia, Technical Consultant - JC Rice
"They use latest technology. They use less labour. It's less labour intensive. Everything is mechanize. They get all the fiscal incentives from the government and yet they are saying they are not competitive. Maybe we should bring 2-3 Guyanese to teach them how to plant rice."
Stanley Rempel, CEO - Circle R Products
"They have free infrastructure. They have free water. They have cheap financing. They are not taxed at the front of the production cycle, whereas we are taxed at the front of the production cycle. So there is a lot of factors that they are just disregarding."
Dr. Henry Canton, Chairman - Belize Agro-production Sector
"We have a small farmer that producing 5 acres and there is a farmer that's producing 1,000 acres. You can't compare the competitiveness whether they will be paid the same price. That's a challenge that a farmer does. A lot of the time that smaller will do his own labour inputs where the larger farmer has to have a large employment base. Has to have high investment in equipment etc. It's unfair to compare the Toledo farm grower with the commercial farm grower. Either not just in rice, but in any agri-business."
Sergio Garcia, Technical Consultant - JC Rice
"How do we produce rice or pay our small farmer 30 cents - yet we are trying to protect the large farmer saying that we are producing at 85 cents and they are not price gouging."
Stanley Rempel, CEO - Circle R Products
"The numbers that you were hearing earlier were mine opinion, very inaccurate. Yes, the farmers down south are getting paid less for their patty, but it's not in our control. That's what BNBC - that's their prices and that's what they are paying. It is a lower quality rice. It is not a grade 1 rice which the general public demands."
Dr. Henry Canton, Chairman - Belize Agro-production Sector
"Our fear is not competition. Our fear is when you have a country that has in excess of rice and a supplier who is willing to probably give you a first time low price for the introduction into our market and then you are allowed into our market, mashed up the market and then we are left with dirty end of the mess to clean out."
Sergio Garcia, Technical Consultant -JC Rice
"Food security - all you mentioned just now is important. Because I've heard the CEO and other senior official speaking about food security and even the Mennonites and the other millers speaking about food security. But they have one concept about what is the problem in Belize. In Belize there is no lack of availability of supply. The problem is access. The problem is that the average Belizean consumer cannot afford the price of rice okay. And what that tells you? We are saying that we can bring rice that is more affordable to the consumers and ensure their food security."
Stanley Rempel, CEO - Circle R Products
"Jack Charles has been challenging us if we can match his price right. My point I have is if he is really that concern to make sure people get cheaper food on their table, rice is a very small part of your grocery of what's on your table in dollar wise. One pound of rice feeds 10 people. At $1.15 per pound is 11 cents per person. So if he really wants to make an impact and be the Robin Hood, why does he not lower his merchandise?"
Later on in the news, we will have the perspective of consumers - what would they prefer lower prices on imported rice, or higher prices from local farmers?
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