Thursday, April 10, 2008 NFA hires students to repack rice
AS PART of its social program, the National Food Authority (NFA) has employed college students under the special program for the employment of students (Spes) in Zamboanga City.
NFA Assistant Regional Director Rolando Maravilla said his office has hired 40 college students, majority of whom are male, to assist in the distribution of NFA rice.
Part of the job of the students they hired is to repack NFA rice at the warehouse in the village of San Roque for distribution to accredited outlets, Maravilla explained.
He said the program gives the students the opportunity to earn money this summer, which they could later use for their enrollment fees and tuition for the coming school year.
The NFA repacks the rice by placing 1 kilogram each into a plastic pack.
Fifty plastic packs of rice are placed in a 50-kilogram sack for distribution to NFA accredited outlets in the local market.
Maravilla said all accredited outlets are allocated 10 sacks of 50 kilos per sack each week to ensure a steady supply of cheap rice amid the continuous price increase of the commercial variety of rice.
He said his office has enough supply of rice to meet the demands of the buying public especially the poor ones.
On Wednesday, Maravilla's office received fresh shipment of more than 100,000 sacks of imported rice.
The shipment is the third since January this year. (BPG)
