By Brushell BlackmanGuyana and Venezuela at last signed the long-awaited 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,China NFL Jerseys,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.Speaking on behalf of a Venezuelan delegation that arrived yesterday afternoon, Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Dario Morandy, through an interpreter, said that he is happy to enter into the agreement with Guyana and hopes that their relationship grows from strength to strength.The Venezuelan delegation flew in on a private jet yesterday and was locked in negotiations with Guyana’s rice officials until the deal last night. The visit came after General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Jagnarine Singh and General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, visited Venezuela to fast track the deal.Minister Persaud said that the deal came a bit late but he is nevertheless happy since it will ensure better prices for the struggling rice industry. The Minister is hopeful that the deal,Cheap Jerseys, albeit temporary, will see better prices being passed down to the farmers.Persaud believes that the deal is an excellent one as compared to the prices usually offered by Guyana’s regular buyers in Europe and other areas. The inking of the deal has been in the making for some time now, but the Venezuelans had promised to visit on a few occasions to inspect standards and conditions before they went ahead.The deal is the first between the two countries and according to Persaud the Venezuelans have expressed an interest in doing business in other Agricultural areas and they will be exploring the possibilities of entering into a permanent rice export deal with Guyana.Farmers have increased their protests for better prices over the past weeks after they were receiving unfavourable prices for their paddy.Millers were offering as low as $2000 per bag of paddy, which they said meant that they were not even recovering the production cost, let a lone making a profit.Last year paddy prices touched a record $6000 per bag of paddy as shortages hit the world market.The Minister of Agriculture and President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced an intervention of $400M into the industry to mitigate the problems and consultations are currently ongoing to see how this money will be spent.Recently, Persaud explained that the money would be forthcoming shortly since it can be approved by way of a supplemental budget or be taken from the consolidated fund. He explained that the consultations which were needed to decide how the money will be spent is almost complete and farmers and exporters are to soon benefit form that assistance.Coupled with this deal with Venezuela the rice industry seems to be on the road to recovery as international prices are also increasing. Attending the signing of the historic deal were officials from the agriculture sector, the National Bureau of Standards,Cheap MLB Jerseys, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, among others.The deal was signed by GRDB General Manager,Wholesale Jerseys, Jagnarine Singh, and Venezuelan Ambassador Dario Morandy.