- The chairman hopes it can compensate farmers for reduced price.
Rice farmers in Regions Two and Six earlier in March month staged several protests following the decision taken by rice millers to reduce the cost of paddy they had initially paid.
However, the situation has settled in Region Six, says the Regional Chairman of the district, David Armagon who was speaking on the television programme ‘Region and You’.
Mr Armagon highlighted that “they are all carrying their paddy to the mills and what we are seeing too is an increase in yield because when we use to get like 32 bags per acre we are getting almost 38 to 40 bags per acre now in quite a number of areas.”
He hopes that this will compensate for the reduced price now being offered to the farmers.
In the meanwhile, he has committed to working with the farmers while maintaining that they play a critical role in the agriculture sector.
Following the intervention from Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha farmers received a $200 increase per bag of paddy even though they had protested an increase of $5,000.
They were initially offered $3,500 for a bag of paddy so that means that millers are now offering them a sum of $3,700. Most families depend on the sale of paddy to sustain their livelihood as it is the main economic activity in the Region.
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