THE National Food Authority (NFA) said its purchases of locally produced rice have surpassed the volume it bought last year, as the incentives offered by the government had enticed farmers to sell their crop to the food agency.
The NFA said it has purchased over 800,000 50-kilogram bags, or some 40,000 metric tons (MT), of palay from local farmers.
NFA Assistant Administrator Maria Mercedes G. Yacapin said the grains agency is now able to procure more rice from local farmers after the government offered more incentives, effectively hiking its buying price to P20.70 per kilogram.
“We are doing good in our palay procurement compared to last year. Right now, we have purchased 800,000 bags cumulatively,” Yacapin told reporters in a recent interview. “And it is even higher now as we speak, as we are still buying [palay].”
Yacapin said local field offices were encouraged to overshoot their palay procurement target for the year.
“Number 1 right now is Mindoro Occidental. The NFA office there has reached its target, but we asked them to surpass their targets,” she said.
Last year the NFA failed to achieve its goal of procuring 3 million bags, as its purchases reached only 588,820 bags, or 29,441 MT. This year, the NFA is eyeing to procure 2.6 million bags or about 130,000 MT of palay.
This means that agency attached to the Department of Agriculture still needs to purchase around 1.8 million bags, or about 90,000 MT, of palay to hit its target.
Since the approval of its buffer stocking incentive of P3 per kilogram, the NFA has been optimistic that it would be able to hit its palay procurement target for 2018.
The NFA is banking on local palay procurement to continuously beef up its stockpile and avert the depletion of state-subsidized rice sold in local markets.
NFA OIC-Administrator Tomas R. Escarez told the BusinessMirror earlier this week that the agency’s rice stockpile would last up to 55 days based on its current market participation rate of 10 percent.
Agriculture Secretary and NFA Council Chairman Emmanuel F. Piñol earlier announced that the country will start 2019 with a buffer stock equivalent to 134 days of national consumption.
He said his estimate does not yet include rice that will be brought into the country by the Department of Trade and Industry and additional imports of the private sector via the out-quota scheme.