DAYS are numbered for Negrenses to avail the P27 per kilogram government rice in Negros Occidental as supply will only last until this month, an official of the National Food Authority (NFA) said.

Engineer Frisco Canoy, provincial manager of NFA-Negros Occidental, said the remaining buffer stocks of the cheaper government rice are about 50,000 bags based on their inventory as of Thursday, August 1.

Canoy said these form part of the province’s import allocation from Myanmar and Vietnam and are up for distribution only until this month.

“By the time we have no more rice to distribute, our concentration would then be on palay (unhusked rice) procurement for buffer stocking,” he added.

On February 14, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11203, which lifted import restrictions on rice to make the price of the staple commodity affordable for all.

Effective March 5 this year, the Rice Import and Export Liberalization Law has removed the regulatory functions of the NFA over international and domestic trading of rice.

NFA-Negros Occidental, like other provincial offices, can no longer act on licensing and registration of persons and entities engaged in the grains business, and collection of regulatory fees.

Other functions stripped from the agency included issuance of negotiable warehouse receipts, warehouse inspection, and authority to seize hoarded stocks, and enforce rules and regulations in the grains business.

It can be recalled that NFA-Negros Occidental earlier programmed the distribution at 30,000 to 35,000 bags of government rice covering at least 160 accredited outlets in the province every month.

The government rice with a buying price of P25 per kilogram at the NFA is being sold by accredited retailers at P27 per kilogram.

For local government units (LGUs) and other government institutions, the agency has started implementing the new selling price of rice in June this year.

From P32 per kilogram, the new selling price of the government rice has increased to P37 per kilogram.

In terms of palay procurement, NFA-Negros Occidental still implements the same guidelines.

Under the existing procurement scheme, the agency buys palay at the current support price of P17 per kilogram plus additional incentives of P3 per kilogram and P0.70 per kilogram for delivery, drying and cooperative development.

This means that an individual farmer can get a maximum of P20.40 per kilogram while members of farmer cooperatives are getting maximum of P20.70 per kilogram of palay being sold to the NFA.

Canoy said the buying stations are still in warehouses in Bacolod City, San Carlos City and Dancalan in Ilog town.

The agency continues to campaign among local farmers to sell their palay to the NFA, he added.