OF THE 80,000 bags of imported rice that have arrived in the province last Monday, July 9, the National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental is ensuring that it can only receive “good stocks,” its top official said.
Frisco Canoy, provincial manager of NFA-Negros Occidental, yesterday said only stocks which passed certain quality standards, will be received by the agency.
Canoy said they have quality control personnel that are implementing procedures like getting samples from every truck or bag of stocks to check whether there are defects.
Those “bad orders” will not be received, he said, adding that “supplier may have it disposed or offer to interested buyers.”
Before the scheduled unloading of imported rice today, July 11, Canoy met with representatives of various concerned agencies like the Bureau of Customs, supplier including their cargo handler, insurer and surveyor, and personnel of M/V Unison in a dialogue inside the vessel docked at Bredco Port in Bacolod City yesterday.
The dialogue is part of the importation process. All concerned agencies and entities should meet and discuss the things to do including schedules, and check whether necessary requirements have been complied before the importation enters the country.
Unlike before where the agency handles the stocks upon the arrival of the vessel, Canoy pointed out that under the new importation contract, the role of the NFA only comes in once the stocks are already piled inside its warehouses.
This means that the supplier takes charge of the expenses for cargo handlers, trucking, and labor, among others, Canoy said.
“Once the stocks are inside our warehouses, we will immediately reject those found to have defects,” he added.
Moreover, Negros Occidental has received initial stocks of 2,500 bags of rice from Iloilo prior to the arrival of its import allocation from Thailand.
Another stocks of 2,500 bags for dispersal are expected to arrive in the province today thus, it is expected to replenish a total of 5,000 bags to Iloilo.
The neighboring province's allocation, also of 80,000 bags, arrived ahead that of Negros Occidental.
A portion of the stocks from Iloilo was already distributed among markets in the province through accredited NFA rice retailers. Still, these are sold at P27 per kilogram.
Once unloading and necessary documentation are completed, the agency will also start distributing the imported rice to local markets, Canoy said.
“We expect that by this week, we can already sell stocks from our own import allocation,” he added.