THE National Food Authority (NFA) on Monday assured the public that the supply and price of rice in the country remain stable even after the devastation of Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) in Northern Luzon.
NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay told the BusinessMirror in a text message that the inventory of rice in NFA depositories is currently at 716,914 metric tons (MT), good for 23 days. Due to the sufficient supply, he said, there is no movement in the price of rice in the domestic market.
“Since we have enough supply amid Lando, price of rice in the market is stable. Kahit sa affected areas,” Dalisay said.
Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report titled “Price Situationer of Selected Agricultural Commodities,” the price of regular milled rice and well-milled rice from the NFA for the week ending on October 23 remained at P27 per kilo and P32 per kilo, respectively.
Dalisay also said the NFA has released 31,189 bags of rice to local government units (LGUs) and relief agencies in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Metro Manila for distribution to families in the typhoon-stricken areas.
He said the food agency is still awaiting the approval of the P350-million supplemental budget it requested from the Department of Budget and Management to procure damaged crops from affected farmers.
Meanwhile, prices of other commodities, especially vegetables, surged due to the damage caused by Lando.
The same PSA report showed that as of October 23, prices of cabbage in different parts of the country increased by P5 per kilogram to P40 per kilogram; eggplant by P2 per kilo to P70 per kilo; and sitaw by P2 per kilo to as much as P110 per kilo, among others.
According to the updated data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), farm damage brought by Lando as of October 26 reached 511,691 MT, valued at P8.45 billion.
This was lower than the previously reported agriculture damage of P8.62 billion as a result of the field validation conducted by the DA in Region 1.
“Losses in high-value crops decreased by P578 million in the province of La Union. The previously reported damaged area of 576 hectares by the LGU of La Union on fruit trees, particularly mango, banana and papaya, was in hectarage instead of number of trees. The reported number of trees is now converted into hectarage based on standard number of trees planted per hectare, hence the value and volume of losses decreased,” the DA said.
About 369,199 hectares of farmlands in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A and the Cordillera Administrative Region were affected by the typhoon, with 92.46 percent, or 341,364 hectares, having chance of recovery.
The report showed that the rice sector took the brunt of the damage, registering P7.21 billion worth of damaged crops. This was followed by high-value crops, which suffered P780.27 million in terms of production loss.
Damage suffered by the fisheries sector reached P276.82 million, while the corn and livestock sector lost P146.50 million and P8.74 million, respectively.
The DA also reported P26.21 million worth of facilities, infrastructure and equipments damaged in the fisheries and livestock sector.
“A field validation in Regions 1 and 3 will be conducted from October 26 to 30 and November 3 to 7 in Region 2. The validation team will be composed of representatives from DA Field Operations Service, regional field offices [RFOs] and the Philippine Rice Research Institute. The result of the validation will be considered as the final report of the RFOs affected by Lando,” the DA said.