THE National Food Authority Council (NFAC) has effectively increased the government’s support price for palay to P20 per kilogram (kg) when it decided to approve the grant of more incentives to rice farmers.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol made the pronouncement on Monday, but clarified that the National Food Authority’s (NFA) direct support price for palay remains at P17 per kg.
Piñol is currently the chairman of the NFAC, the highest policy-making body of the NFA.
“The buying price of NFA remains at P17 per kg but we will come up with incentives that when quantified would reach P20 per kg,” Piñol said in a news briefing following the NFAC’s first meeting under his chairmanship.
He said the NFA would give additional transportation incentives to farmers who would sell their crops to the government. They would also be entitled to receive farm equipment, among others.
The grant of additional incentives is effective immediately, according to Piñol.
He said the NFA would also be “flexible” with its 14-percent moisture content requirement for palay and would purchase even wet palay.
“We will be flexible in terms of the moisture content. The government must help the farmers,” he said. “The farmers would say the NFA’s support is limited. The government is out there to help the people. Our directive is to help the farmers.”
Despite the increase in the NFA’s palay support price, the food agency’s selling price would remain at P27 per kg for regular-milled rice and P32 per kg for well-milled rice, Pinol said.
At present the NFA buys palay from farmers at a support price of P17 per kg and gives additional incentives totaling P0.70 for individual farmers and P1 for cooperatives.
The NFA has been pushing for an increase in its support price as farmers prefer to sell to traders who buy palay at P20 per kg to P25 per kg.
Piñol have repeatedly stated that the NFA will not be able to purchase palay locally if their buying price would remain at P17 per kg.
The agriculture chief said traders could even hike their offer and cause the average farm-gate price to remain above the P20-per-kg mark this main harvest season following the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong in some rice-producing provinces.
Lawmakers belonging to the Makabayan Bloc have recently filed a resolution to provide the NFA a supplemental budget of P10 billion to beef up its palay procurement program. The resolution also mandates the NFA to automatically buy palay at P20 per kg.
NFA stockpile
The NFA buys uNmilled rice from farmers to beef up its stockpile, which is also made up of imports.
The depletion of the NFA’s rice buffer stock, is being tagged as one of the major factors behind the increase in the retail price of commercial rice.
On Tuesday Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said rice imports were delayed because NFA Administrator Jason Aquino had preferred the government-to-government (G2G) mode of importation.
Because of the delay, Roque said prices of goods went up and forced the government to import more food items, including rice.
Roque claimed that it was Aquino who “purposely delayed” the importation. He said some importers may sue the NFA chief because of this.
“The Council has given the authority to import but he delayed it because he has a preference for G2G,” he said, noting that the G2G importation is the “worst” mode of importation as this is prone to corruption.
“So many [importers] will be filing cases against him because of the losses sustained by them as a result of orchestrations so that they cannot import pursuant to the open tender system,” Roque added.
Roque said he is also thinking of filing graft and corruption and technical malversation cases against Aquino once he leaves the Cabinet.
“Since he did not spend the money to buy rice from local farmers so that the government will have enough buffer stock, we are importing now and we are giving money to foreign farmers,” he added.
President Duterte is set to appoint retiring Army chief Lt. Gen. Rolando Bautista to replace Aquino, whose resignation he already accepted, according to Roque.
During his televised interview with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo, Duterte said Aquino had asked to be relieved from his post since he is “tired.”