Guyana being considered for five-minute rice plant
Alesie launches quick meal product

By Oscar P. Clarke
Stabroek News
April 29, 2000


Guyana is a strong contender for the siting of a multi-million dollar plant to produce a new value-added rice product.

This disclosure was made by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alesie Group of Companies, Turhane Doerga, at the local launching of the group's new value-added product, five-minute rice. The five-minute rice is currently being produced at a small plant in Miami, Florida, USA.

The investment is expected to be in the region of US$12 million and the plant should have the capacity to process 24,000 metric tonnes of rice per year. This investment, Doerga said, would only be forthcoming if certain criteria were met including a stable investor climate and investor friendly atmosphere.

Doerga, delivering the feature address at the official launching in Guyana of five flavours of the company's new product, also listed as necessary to securing the investment, a stable political climate, conformity with international business rules and the willingness to adopt free trade principles. In an obvious reference to the seizure by members of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) of the MV New Charm, he said that companies should be able to load a vessel with "innocent rice" without it being confiscated resulting in huge losses. The MV New Charm, which was discovered to contain some 200 pounds of cocaine, had been loaded with a substantial amount of rice from an Alesie subsidiary.

These "new charming" features, he quipped, were necessary if investors were to make positive decisions about investing in this country.

The product concept was arrived at, according to the CEO, out of an order for the supply of rations to inmates of holding facilities in the Miami area. He said Alesie had just celebrated obtaining its first big order for the prison system when it became involved in the New Charm issue.

The Alesie CEO in his presentation dubbed 'The Shake Out has Begun', also called on the authorities to abandon slogans like "buy local", which he argued was not in sync with globalisation. He preferred the adoption of one which stressed increasing exports.

In direct relevance to the establishment of the processing plant in Guyana, Doerga stated that almost all the ingredients for the rice were produced locally, but were not processed to ensure their utilisation.

Alesie, he stated, was already urging farmers in the Black Bush Polder area on the Corentyne to plant more peppers. He said that investment in a small dehydration and grinding plant would allow them to supply one of the items needed in the manufacturing chain.

Doerga said he hoped the new rice product could be produced in Guyana, thus creating jobs and earning foreign currency in the process.

Value-added, he pointed out, was the key to ensuring that competitors in the rice industry recover losses suffered through the slump in prices on the world market. This approach, he said, was being adopted by the more experienced producers who have been finding ways to take their industries to a higher level.

Other speakers at the launching included Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry, Sonia Roopnauth, who challenged Alesie to ensure that the processing plant was sited here. The PS congratulated the company on a product which she said was of a high quality; personnel in her ministry had tried the samples sent by the company.

Managing Director of the Alesie Group, Bram Stroot, outlined the thought process which had gone into producing the five-minute rice which he stated was a complete meal. Stroot also mentioned that the product, which was being launched simultaneously in Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, the US, Suriname, Curacao and Guyana, had its conception in global societies where time was of the essence. It was the perfect solution he stated, to the limited time that people had to prepare meals.

The meal, he contended, was ideal for use in institutions like hospitals, schools, detention facilities, the military service and other industries like the tourist sector.

There were also presentations by Rice Producers Association General Secretary, Dharamkumar Seeraj; and General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board, Jagnarine Singh.

The programme was chaired by Alesie-Guyana Marketing Manager R. Greene.

Following the ceremony Stabroek News spoke to the CEO who stated that close to US$18 million had been spent to develop the technology.

He further disclosed that the Indian Massala version and a soon to come Guyanese Shrimp Soca flavour were developed with the assistance of Guyanese living in Miami.

The whole concept, according to Doerga, took some two years to be fully developed and the current production from their US plant was already sold out hence the search for a site to establish a larger operation.

The launching which took place at the Ocean View Hotel Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, was attended by farmers, millers and other involved in the rice sector.