THE National Food Authority (NFA) vowed to step up its purchases of unmilled rice, but an official from the agency said it would be a tall order for the NFA to hit its procurement target for this year’s dry season harvest.
The NFA said it has bought 19,361 50-kilogram (kg) bags of palay from farmers. Of this volume, 7,412 bags were bought last month, at the start of the summer crop harvest.
“Rice harvest started last March, and it would peak this month. So, if the farm-gate price of palay would drop, then we could procure more palay,” the official said. “We remain optimistic that we can hit our target, but it would be quite difficult.”
NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino said the agency’s field offices are adopting “innovative means” to convince farmers to sell to the agency despite the big difference in palay buying price. The NFA buys at a support price of P17 per kg for clean and dry palay, while private traders offer higher prices.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released during the third week of March showed that the average farm-gate price of palay has reached P20.40 per kg nationwide.
“Our palay procurement for March was higher, with most of our purchases coming from our NFA branches in Northern Cagayan-Apayao, Mindoro, Zamboanga del Sur, North Cotabato and Bukidnon,” Aquino said in a statement.
“While our procurement is still below our target, it shows the result of our best efforts to buy locally produced rice,” he added.
Aquino noted the mandate of the NFA is to provide a floor price for palay for farmers to get a reasonable return on their produce.
“We intervene only if palay prices are low so that farmers can recoup their investments. If prices are high, government intervention is not necessary. We want the farmers to earn and be competitive,” he said.
NFA is targeting to buy more palay as the summer harvest peaks, with a procurement target of 1.2 million bags, or 60,000 metric tons (MT) for the months of April and May.
The Philippine Statistics Authority estimates that rice production in January to June would grow by 1.63 percent to 8.709 million metric tons, from the previous year’s 8.569 MMT.
For 2018 the NFA is aiming to purchase 6 million bags of palay, which is equivalent to 300,000 MT. Last year the NFA failed to achieve its goal of procuring 3 million bags, as its purchases reached only 556,880 bags, or 28,344 MT.
Rice stockpile
Aside from purchasing palay from farmers, the NFA also buys rice from abroad to beef up its buffer stock, which has fallen to a four-decade low of 10,000 MT. Part of the agency’s stockpile is sold to low income consumers.
The NFA claimed that Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. is delaying its importation of 250,000 MT of rice by not immediately approving the terms of reference (TOR) for it.
“The CabSec has yet to approve the TOR for the importation of 250,000 MT that NFA management has submitted for approval, adopting the 2017 rice importation TOR, under an open tender or government to private scheme,” Aquino said in a statement.
“The NFA Council [NFAC] has been defying President Duterte’s order for an immediate importation of the 250,000 MT buffer stock,” he added.
During a special meeting with the NFAC on March 19, Aquino said the President has directed the NFA to immediately import rice. “The President said he would rather prefer an excess supply of rice than a shortage.”
The NFA chief said he also welcomes the special audit on the NFA management’s operations to be undertaken by the Commission on Audit, following the recommendation of the NFAC.
“The NFA Council is questioning NFA management why it released a lot of its rice stocks during the harvest season from October to December while distribution was low during the lean months of July to September,” he said.
“It is not correct to say that NFA’s rice distribution was high during the harvest season and low during the lean months,” Aquino added.
The NFA chief said the grains agency’s rice distribution sank to a decade-low in 2017 at 14 million bags due to depleting stockpile.
“Part of NFA rice releases in October, November and December went to the relief agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Office of Civil Defense and local government units for their relief operations totaling 292,848 bags. Total rice issued for relief operations in 2017 was 784,429 bags,” Aquino said.
He also said the NFA’s distribution during the lean months last year was fewer compared to the fourth quarter due to the agency’s low rice inventory.
“The government-contracted 250,000 MT of imported rice in 2017 started arriving in the country only in the last week of August. Thus, distribution during the lean months was calibrated due to low inventory,” Aquino said.
“With the arrival of fresh buffer stocks, NFA had to release older stocks to its network of accredited retailers nationwide to avoid deterioration. This is in line with the agency’s total quality management program,” he added.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes