Guyana Rice Development Board undertaking study of paddy bugs

The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) says it is conducting a study of paddy bugs to reduce their impact on rice cultivation and secure the country’s rice export, specifically to the European Union (EU) market.

GRDB’s plant pathologist, Dr. Rajendra Persaud, said the EU has been clamping down with legislation on safety limits of agrochemicals (pesticides) in rice and other imported food products. The EU is currently Guyana’s largest export market for rice, with a 48 percent rate recorded in 2021. For the year thus far, the rate already exceeded last year with 52 percent.

“A lot of European countries are rejecting rice coming from different parts of the world with pesticide residue above what they term food safety limits and the EU being our major market, we should take a score of that and put things in order that we are not affected by such regulations in the EU,” Dr. Persaud said while addressing GRDB’s Conference on ‘Pesticide residue in rice.’

He said the study is being done on the paddy bug “because of this pest, rice farmers utilize insecticide as one of their main sources of control.”

Persaud said the GRDB is now looking at alternatives to control pests, given the EU’s new regulations.

“Other than pesticides, we need alternatives in terms of managing the paddy bug, and so we have embarked on conducting a comprehensive study on the paddy bug in Guyana with the overall objective to study the paddy bug and develop strategies that will effectively reduce its economic impact on rice cultivation,” Persaud said, adding “we are also looking at the option of some biopesticides.”

The study will re-examine the host preference of the paddy bug and seek to identify the various species of the bug that samples of rice have been sent to the Center of Agriculture and Bioscience International in the United Kingdom for a detailed analysis.

The report from that analysis found the samples were discolored as a result of several fungal and bacterial microorganisms, and Persaud said the samples were taken from “illegal” varieties of rice being cultivated in at least three regions.