TO ADDRESS the drop in farmgate price of palay in some areas in Western Visayas, the National Food Authority (NFA) in Western Visayas has pegged its buying price at a higher price.
NFA-Western Visayas has ramped up the purchase of palay (paddy rice) from farmers at P19 per kilogram of dry palay with 14 percent moisture as the buying price of rice dropped to P10 per kilo in some areas in Western Visayas.
To provide easier access to the rice farmers, NFA-Western Visayas has established 27 palay buying stations and warehouses. This move would help boost the government’s purchase of the staple grain from the farmers in the region.
“Our farmers can count on the Duterte administration’s all-out support to the rice sector and its crucial role in our local food production,” said Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas.
According to Secretary Dino, NFA’s procurement of the palay also aims to provide rice farmers the right compensation for their labor and high production costs
The government, through the NFA, is on an aggressive procurement drive to help stabilize the price of palay during this peak harvest season, he added.
Dino also called on local farmers to sell their produce to the agency to help build up adequate buffer stocks amid the Covid-19 crisis.
“We can no longer downplay the importance of producing our own food, that’s why the government is making sure that our local farmers are being compensated well for their produce,” he said.
During the Laging Handa Network Briefing News, Assistant Secretary Anthony Gerard "Jonji" Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas also reported that local government units (LGUs) in the region are also providing support to the rice farmers.
“They are offering transport vehicles to farmers so the latter could bring their harvested palay to NFA warehouses,” he said.
LGUs also initiated programs to help facilitate continuous and smooth procurement transactions with the NFA
.
“The agency has purchased one million bags of palay in 2019, which helped the relief operations of the government agencies when the lockdown was implemented due to the pandemic,” Gonzales said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development is buying NFA rice for only P1,250 per bag, which is lower than the commercial rice.
With enough rice buffer stock from the 2019 procurement, Gonzales said the NFA-Western Visayas was able to supplement the rice shortage in the Central and Eastern Visayas regions.
NFA-Western Visayas will also be sending rice supplies next month to Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Jolo in Mindanao to augment their rice supply.
The Guimaras provincial government had spent P500,000 for the provision of P1 per kilogram price support to NFA procurement this harvest season. Guimaras will be allocating another P1.5-million to reinforce palay purchases starting January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental rice farmers can dry their fresh palay for free at the government Rice Processing Center in Bago City.
Also, since October 2019, the Mangunguma Sapnayon: Palay Price Support Program of the Iloilo provincial government had released P56-million in agriculture loans to 11 farmers’ cooperatives engaged in palay trading.
“Western Visayas has ranked second to Cagayan Valley Region in terms of NFA palay procurement in September,” Gonzales noted.
NFA-Western Visayas bought a total of 369,478 bags of palay, which is more than 180 percent of their target for the month of September.
When the harvest season started in September, farmers in Aklan were able to sell 23,376 bags to NFA; 20,987 bags in Antique; 63,268 bags in Capiz; 241,815 bags in Iloilo and Guimaras; and 20,041 bags in Negros Occidental. (PR)