Santo Domingo.- Rice growers are ready to hit the street toprotest, if the government allows imports of the grain beyond the 400 millionpounds agreed within the DR-CAFTA trade deal.
National rice growers association (Fenarroz) president CésarEspaillat made by the announcement and said the country’s 30,000 rice farmers areready to stage pickets, marches and other activities together with theirfamilies.
He said there are more than 400,000,000 pounds stored accordingto an inventory tallied on Jan. 9, adding that the rice harvest starts mid-Marchfor crops from nearly 330,000 hectares.
Espaillat said rice consumption is around 90 million poundsmonthly. He noted that Agriculture minister Angel Estevez is aware of thedetails of that inventory.
The agro leader said Fenarroz has asked Estevez to convenethe National Rice Commission to address the alleged imports of rice and other keyissues for growers.