Monday, June 09, 2008 Exec: NFA rice can't reduce prices of commercial rice
KORONADAL CITY -- Cheaper rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) can not pull down the soaring prices of commercial rice in the markets at this time due to the lean-months season for palay (paddy rice) production, a provincial grains official said.
Angelina M. Lucena, NFA-South Cotabato assistant manager, said they are injecting additional volume of NFA rice in the different parts of the province since consumers of the government-subsidized have grown with the surging prices of commercial rice.
"At this time, NFA rice could not influence to bring down prices because we don't have much supply of commercial rice. The volume of commercial rice is what can pull down the price but we are on the lean season. The NFA rice is there to assist curb the shortage," she said in a radio interview here.
The lean month for palay production in the region began last month with the start of the planting season. The harvest season is expected by October.
Lucena claimed NFA rice can only bring down prices of commercial rice if the grains agency would supply half the market requirement, which the NFA, according to her, is "incapable of doing."
To allow more people access to cheaper NFA rice, she said they have started increasing the allocation retailers in some localities in the province.
The weekly allocations for General Santos City were increased from 440 to 600 sacks and 140 to 295 sacks in Tampakan town, she said.
Also, the withdrawal of rice stocks from the NFA warehouse here by accredited retailers has been increased to daily frequency, thrice a week previously, she added.
The provincial NFA is selling P25-per-kilo rice limited to provincial and city government employees only at half a sack each buyer per month, she said.
As of last week, Lucena said the provincial office has acquired 167,000 bags from its central office since January, a 70 percent of the 230,00 sacks it requested for the full year.
Allaying fears of NFA rice scarcity in the province, Lucena said the provincial office can still request for additional volume from the central office if the allocation won't be enough.
According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistic in Central Mindanao, prices of commercial rice in the area now range from P38 to 48 a kilo.
Meanwhile, Protestant Bishop Felixberto L. Calang, chairperson of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao, took a dig at the Arroyo government for the rice situation plaguing the island.
"For the people of an island where the incidence of hunger and malnutrition are higher than the rest of the country, the soaring prices of rice are causing widespread disgruntlement among Mindanaoans towards the Arroyo government," he said. (BSS)
