THE National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental has not procured palay (unhusked rice) from local farmers since January this year, its top official said.
Frisco Canoy, provincial manager of NFA-Negros Occidental, said farmers in the province have not sold their produce to the agency despite the higher buying price of P20.70 per kilogram.
Under the existing procurement scheme, the NFA buys palay at the current support price of P17 per kilogram.
This is on top of the additional Buffer Stocking Incentive (BSI) of P3 per kilogram and other incentives of P0.70 per kilogram for delivery, drying and cooperative development.
This means that 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 agency.
Canoy said this might be attributed to the limited production during the first four months of the year. Or, local farmers opted to sell their palay to traders who probably set a higher buying rate.
“We are also looking at the possibility that some farmers stored their product for consumption,” he said, adding that limited production may also be associated to the prevailing effects of El Niño phenomenon.
Some rice farms on early stages of production may have been affected by the persisting dry spell, Canoy also said.
The palay procurement is one of the proactive measures of the government amid the just-implemented rice tariffication.
It can be recalled that 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.
Under which, the NFA 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, authority to seize hoarded stocks, and enforce rules and regulations in the grains business.
Canoy said that during the first cropping season, sometime in September last year, NFA-Negros Occidental was able to procure a minimal volume of palay from local farmers.
He said they have been campaigning for the program particularly conducting information dissemination during meetings with various farmers associations in every locality in the province.
“We have been informing them that our buying stations are open anytime to buy their produce at a certain price,” Canoy said, adding that by selling their palay to the NFA, farmers are contributing to the buffer stocking function of the agency.
The NFA is mandated to implement buffer stocking mainly to ensure food security especially during calamities and emergencies.
For NFA-Negros Occidental, it expects higher procurement during the second half of the year where there is already abundant harvest and rainy season prevails.