The rice industry must begin hiring technologically competent managers and agricultural education institutions have to orient themselves toward producing graduates of this calibre.

This was the view of Chairman of the Amazon Group of Companies, Asad Ishoof who delivered the main address at the Guyana Manufacturers' Association Annual Dinner and Awards ceremony at le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.

He also adverted to the availability of Euro 100 million for the rice sector in Guyana and Suriname and declared that this must be vigorously pursued and new creative proposals to utilise this funding developed, businessman and chairman of the Amazon Group of Companies Asad Ishoof has said.

Delivering the main address at the Guyana Manufacturers' Association Annual Dinner and Awards ceremony at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel last Friday, Ishoof expressed the hope that the European Union (EU) does not take long to implement this assistance as he gathered that the parties involved are already moving at a rather slow pace.

Centring a major portion of his presentation on the rice and sugar industries, he said that creativity, sound management and intelligent investment must rule the day.

In a good year, the rice industry would export US$90 to US$100 million yet in the entire sector less than 10 university graduates are in management positions whether they are in finance, agronomy, engineering or personnel.

The rice sector, he said, needs to rethink its approach in the technological arena and institutions such as the University of Guyana (UG) along with the technical institutes need to offer two-year diplomas in rice mill management and drying and rice production.

The present Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Engineering at UG and courses offered by the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), he said, are not programmed to assist the rice sector which makes up 12% to 14% of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

Worse yet, he noted, only a handful of graduates from GSA and the technical institutes are employed gainfully in the privately-owned rice sector which constitutes 96% of the entire industry.

He said that some big growers and millers have made very feeble steps to insert technologically competent managers in their organisation but as a whole the industry does not embrace this practice.

As such, he said, we should not be surprised that the rice sector is unable to develop new or more efficient technologies and management practices whether in rice production, drying, milling or marketing.

Noting that there are in excess of 100 rice mills with most of them being too small in milling capacity and not being able to produce top quality rice for export at a competitive price, he suggested the closure of the older and smaller mills and a consolidation among farmers, millers, dryers and exporters in favour of modern upgraded mills.

He recommended, too, crash courses in rice mill management and field production and the construction of a proper rice export terminal which can store pre-shipment rice and load vessels of a minimum of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes capacity, in order to compete on the international market.

Speaking about sugar, he said that the commodity should be treated as an energy module and not a sweetener. While the sugar industry is doing well under the protected market quotas of the EU and the USA, Guyana needs to look at profitable joint ventures which would add positive returns to their bottom line while keeping the factories open and the field operations sustainable.

He advised that electricity co-generation plants be established at Enmore, Wales and Skeldon with joint venture partners. These co-generation plants, he said, could provide all the electricity needed along the coastal belt over the next ten years, while fuel ethanol plants can be built at Skeldon. Ethanol can be used as a fuel additive to gasoline which can save foreign exchange in reduced fuel imports.

Ishoof made these suggestions noting that the world economy is currently in a crisis and Guyana has to be ably prepared to compete effectively.

Even before the events of September 11, the world economy led by the US was in recession, he said. The world's biggest economies including the smaller giants such as Brazil and Argentina were already in deep financial crisis. As such he asked, "how are we, a small country such as Guyana and our sister countries in the Caribbean going to cope with the negative fall-out that is certain to arrive at our doorsteps?".

Ishoof said that when one examines carefully the phenomenon of globalisation it became obvious that the USA is the driving force behind the dynamic process of globalisation and in many ways has emerged as the primary beneficiary.

Stressing the point and quoting former US secretary of state Dr Henry Kissinger, Ishoof said that globalisation viewed the entire world as a single market in which the most efficient and competitive will prosper and survive.

He also quoted Clare Short, Secretary of State, Department for International Development in the United Kingdom, as saying that she does not believe that economists sitting in Washington have all the answers. Governments of developing countries, she said, must take the lead in deciding their own development, taking full account of the views of their citizens and building on national democratic processes.

He then referred to the Italian statesman and writer, Niccolo Machiavelli, who in one of his essays said that a nation should pattern itself after one or two types of states such as Rome - powerful, rich, imperial and with military leadership capable of dominating the entire world around it, or, like Venice - making full use of its strategic location while sitting at the crossroads of world trade, provider of efficient banking, legal and administrative resources and with a friendly, educated population eager to facilitate international trade, commerce and services.

He suggested that Guyana should choose to be the modern day Venice, "only in our case, sitting at the crossroads of trade between North and South America."