Sunday, May 18, 2008 NFA agrees with lawmaker's statement on rice By Edmund Sestoso
THE provincial office of the National Food Authority (NFA) had agreed with the predictions of 3rd district Representative Henry Pryde Teves on the rice situation of the country.
Teves has earlier said that prices of rice may go down in the coming months, as hoarders could not prolong their act, otherwise, it would be a waste of their efforts.
NFA Information officer Rolando Lazalita said the onset harvest season in the country will pull down the market price of commercial rice in the coming months.
For several days, consumers are subjected to hours of waiting their turn in a long line in several NFA outlets in Dumaguete City and throughout the province where prices have reached to as much as P40 per kilo for commercial rice.
Lazalita explained that lean months, which falls May to August, already arrived.
He added that harvest time for corn followed by palay would start towards the end of July and the start of August. This occurrence, said Lazalita, will trigger a drop in the cost of commercial rice.
Lazalita also agreed with Teves, saying the expected dip in commercial rice prices will be the dwindling rice supply hoarded in the warehouses of big rice cartels in Manila.
He pointed out that rice is good for only three months and beyond that, it will be rotten, so the traders will be forced to distribute their rice stocks.
NFA Provincial Economist Cheryl Echeverri said that as of May 9, 2008, NFA recorded average daily sales of 1,122 rice bags. The target sales for the month of May is set at 31,700 bags.
He believes that their actual sales will far exceed their target for May based on past sales.
NFA's target sales for January to December this year is 405,000 bags, with their highest targets set in the lean months of June, July and August.
Echeverri explained that one factor why their actual sales went beyond their target was the Food-for-School program of the Department of Education and that of Representative Teves.
Under the said program, NFA is mandated to provide 30,000 rice bags for 35 days at 35 kilos per child in the kindergarten and Grade 1 levels of selected public schools in the province.
The shift of most commercial rice consumers to the more affordable NFA rice sold at P18 per kilo is also seen to contribute to the decrease of commercial rice prices in the market.
