THE Provincial Government of Pampanga will begin procurement of low-priced rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) to augment its relief operation efforts in light of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Governor Dennis Pineda is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the NFA to supply rice to the different cities and municipalities of Pampanga as part of the continuing relief effort of the province.

Instead of buying milled rice with prices going up as high as P2,000 per 50-kilogram bags, Capitol will instead purchase the rice which the NFA bought as palay from local farmers.

According to Elvira Obaña, NFA Central Luzon assistant director, the food agency will only charge P1,250 for every 50 kilogram of rice produced from the palay.

The recipient municipalities, for their part, will identify a miller in their respective municipality where the palay will be milled.

“The province will help us in milling the palay which the NFA cannot do alone in the intended time because of the huge volume of the demand,” Obaña explained.

The governor has allocated more than P90 million for rice procurement but, initially, NFA can only provide P76,875,000 worth of rice.

“We’ll have to check if we can stretch the allocation,” Obaña told Pineda during an emergency meeting at the Pampanga Command Center on Friday.

Pineda said they hope to begin downloading the palay to the millers on Monday with each municipality standing to receive higher rice volume with the sizeable discount the NFA afforded the municipality.

Obaña said the program will also benefit local farmers since the pact with the provincial government will not involve imported rice. (Albert B. Lacanlale/Contributor)