Rice Farmers Give Noboa Eight Days to Act as Sector Faces Worst Crisis in 30 Years

A coalition of rice producers from Ecuador's main growing regions delivered a manifesto to President Noboa on February 9, 2026, giving the government eight days to respond before escalating to "other pressure measures."

The meeting, held in Santa Lucía, Guayas province, drew hundreds of farmers who described 2025 as the worst year for the rice sector in three decades.

The Core Problem: Price Floor Collapse

Ecuador sets a minimum support price (precio mínimo de sustentación) for rice — a government-guaranteed floor price that mills and buyers are legally required to pay producers. In practice, that price has been systematically ignored.

• Current farmgate price: approximately $20 per saca (a 200-pound sack of paddy rice)
• Consumer price: up to $60 per quintal of processed rice at retail
• The gap: Middlemen and mills are capturing the spread while producers sell below cost

Small rice farmers — the vast majority of Ecuador's estimated 80,000 rice-growing families — cannot cover their production costs at $20 per saca. Many took on debt for the 2025 planting season and now face bankruptcy.

The Numbers

• 500,000+ jobs at risk across the rice value chain (planting, harvesting, milling, transport)
• $100 million in estimated losses for the 2025 season
• Primary affected regions: Guayas (Daule, Santa Lucía, Samborondón) and Los Ríos (Babahoyo, Ventanas, Vinces)

What Farmers Want

José Luis García, coordinator of the Farmers' Defence coalition, outlined the demands:

1. Enforce the minimum price floor at the mill level — with inspections and penalties for non-compliance
2. Activate government purchasing centres (centros de acopio) to give farmers an alternative to selling to mills at below-cost prices
3. Address rice smuggling from neighbouring countries that undercuts domestic prices
4. Provide emergency credit for producers facing bankruptcy

The government's Ministry of Agriculture (MAGP) has convened technical working tables and is analysing the capacity of rice mills in Los Ríos to serve as official purchasing centres. But farmers say the process is too slow.

The Colombia Angle

The rice crisis intersects with the ongoing Ecuador-Colombia trade dispute. Colombian rice producers have asked their government to include Ecuadorian rice in retaliatory tariff measures — which would cut off one of Ecuador's export markets and further depress domestic prices.

What This Means for Expats

• Supermarket rice prices are unlikely to spike in the short term — the crisis is on the producer side, not the supply side. Ecuador produces more rice than it consumes
• If the eight-day deadline passes without action, expect road blockades in Guayas and Los Ríos provinces. Previous agricultural protests have blocked the Guayaquil-Quito highway and coastal routes
• Carnival travel (Feb 16-17) through the Guayas lowlands could be affected if farmers escalate. Plan alternative routes or fly if traveling between Guayaquil and the sierra
• Broader economic signal: When Ecuador's agricultural base is in distress, it affects rural employment, migration patterns to cities, and social stability in coastal provinces where many expats live or travel

Sources: Expreso, El Universo, Primicias