MANILA -- The National Food Authority (NFA) assures that it has enough food security stocks and there is no need to import rice to meet the rest of the year’s requirement.
Administrator Angelito Banayo said NFA’s rice inventory at present stands at 37.5 million bags sufficient for the country’s food security need for 52 days or until the middle of December.
He noted that while it could be expected there may be a reduced palay procurement from the typhoon-affected areas in Northern Luzon, this could be compensated by intensive buying from other palay producing areas of the country to augment the agency’s grains inventory.
In the latest report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Wednesday morning, the initial estimated cost of damage to agriculture and fisheries in Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera Autonomous Region was placed at P1.35 billion. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)