The National Rice Council of Colombia, in its first session of 2021, chaired by the Vice Minister of Agricultural Affairs, Juan Gonzalo Botero, again analyzed the level of inventories that the country has, in order to reaffirm the recommendations that should be given the sowings during the first half of this year.

The first thing that should be clarified refers to the information that has been released by Dignidad Agropecuaria, noting that: "in the country there are two million tons of rice of national production ready for sale, but there is no one to buy them." This is not true, since the inventory at the end of December amounted to 1,104,000 tons of dry paddy rice, which is equivalent to 750,000 tons in terms of white rice, which, added to the production of the first semester harvest, will supply satisfactorily the market. In this sense, the National Rice Council defined that its official spokesperson is the Minister of Agriculture and / or his delegate.

According to the analysis carried out, producers from all rice-growing areas of Colombia, especially those who are part of the dry system, are invited to comply with the guidelines of the Management Plan known since last November, according to the which annual plantings should not exceed 520,000 hectares, so that the limit of the same in the first semester is 350,000 hectares, doing it only in lands of greater aptitude. In the first semester, each producing area should not exceed the following sowing hectares: Centro 71,000, Llanos 204,000, Bajo Cauca 44,000, Costa Norte 13,000 and Santanderes 20,000.

It is reiterated that sowing beyond these figures would have negative consequences on the commercialization of the harvest, since prices will be negatively affected to the point that they do not cover production costs as occurred in 2009, 2013 and 2017, generating multi-million dollar losses for the sector.

Farmers are called upon to become aware of the correct way to act in their planting plans, within which it is important to do so by taking into account the available technology transfer programs, as an effective tool to face all the contingencies that may arise in the crop cycle and be competitive in its production.