THE National Food Authority (NFA) bared plans to procure at least 350,000 metric tons of palay this year, or about 7 million 50-kilogram (kg) bags, which would be more than fivefold of the 1.236 million bags it bought last year.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the grains agency said it would sustain the momentum of its local buying spree of local palay to further boost its stockpile, which is at present sufficient to last until August.
“We are projecting that after eight months our imported rice [stockpile] would be wiped out. So we have to prepare for the period from September to December that the NFA would not be importing,” Piñol said in a news briefing on Tuesday in Pasay City.
“We have to supply the market with locally procured rice. So right now we are intensifying our local procurement,” Pinol added.
Piñol said the P7-billion funding of the NFA this year is sufficient to purchase 350,000 metric tons.
However, he explained that the NFA could even exceed the volume as the agency would roll over the profit from the rice they would be selling in the market.
The NFA’s total palay procurement in 2018 more than doubled to 1.236 million bags, from 588,820 bags recorded in 2017.
However, the NFA still missed its palay procurement target last year of 2.6 million bags owing to uncompetitive buying price against private traders almost throughout the year.
The NFA was only able to ramp up its local palay procurement after it implemented its additional P3-per-kg buffer stocking incentive in mid-October. The BSI effectively increased the total buying price of NFA to about P20.70 per kg.
Data provided by the NFA showed that around 93 percent, or about 1.151 million bags, of the total volume they bought last year was due to their higher buying price.
“The implementation of the additional P3/kg buffer stocking incentive in NFA’s palay procurement starting October 12, 2018, has significantly increased the agency’s buying capacity, hitting 80 percent of its national procurement target for the month of November alone,” the NFA said in a news statement issued on Tuesday.