Monday, June 09, 2008 Mindanao gets rice stocks from Luzon
KORONADAL CITY -- Mindanao, the country's food basket, is sourcing rice stocks from Luzon to curb the province's worsening rice situation brought about by the rising prices of rice, a senior government executive said.
Undersecretary Virgilio L. Leyretana Sr., chair of the Mindanao Economic Development Council, said 30,000 sacks of local rice from Manila arrived in Mindanao Saturday to fill in the gap.
"But don't worry that we would run out of rice supplies in Mindanao. The National Food Authority has assured that we'll have enough rice stocks. It still (NFA) has stocks of some 3.5 million sacks available (for distribution)," he said in a radio interview here.
Leyretana claimed that the tight rice situation in Mindanao was triggered by the National Government's order to monitor warehouses in a bid to arrest hoarders.
He also blamed the tight supply situation on the lean palay harvest season seen to last until June.
The soaring rice prices in Mindanao were due to speculations from traders that there would be shortage of the commodity, the official claimed.
For the poor consumers to access government-subsidized rice, Leyretana said the NFA will increase its rolling stores in some parts of Mindanao.
NFA sells imported rice at P18.25 a kilo. In some parts of the province, commercial rice soared by about threefold the past few weeks, breaching the P50/kg mark. (BSS)
