THE National Food Authority (NFA) is intensifying its palay procurement operations nationwide as the government evaluates a proposed floor price for unmilled rice to protect farmers from unfair trading practices and stabilize the market.
In an interview over Radyo Pilipinas on Thursday, May 29, 2025, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said newly-reopened warehouses in Bulacan, Zamboanga, Cagayan Valley, and other rice-producing areas are now operational.
“Recently, just a few days ago, we reopened our warehouses. Our warehouse in Maytika in Malolos has a 70,000-bag capacity,” he said in a mix of Tagalog and English.
“Even though the renovation is not 100 percent complete when we looked at it, we inspected it, and it is ready. Let’s reopen it so that we can receive palay from Bulacan and neighboring provinces,” he added.
By rehabilitating and reopening these old warehouses, Lacson said the NFA is ready to absorb more harvests to help stabilize farmers’ incomes and build up the agency’s buffer stock.
Other warehouses recently reopened include a newly-repaired facility in Cagayan Valley and another in Zamboanga.
Protecting farmers
Lacson said these efforts aim to protect farmers from unscrupulous traders who take advantage of them and buy their palay at a very low price.
“Those are the methods we are implementing right now so when we get the rice from farmers, it fetches a good price,” he said.
Currently, Lacson said the NFA buys fresh palay at 18 to 19 pesos per kilogram (kg), much higher than the P12 to P13/kg price being offered by some traders.
For dry palay, he said the NFA buying price is P24/kg.
Meanwhile, Lacson said the agency has also received and distributed 14 new trucks to select NFA branches nationwide.
During a visit to an NFA warehouse in Bulacan on Wednesday, May 28, President Ferdinand “BMarcos Jr. reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to ensure fair farm gate prices for rice farmers amid reports of palay being bought for as low as P11 per kilo in some areas.
The President also noted that unstable market prices hinder planning and long-term sustainability for both farmers and the government. Lacson said the NFA currently holds over 414,000 metric tons of rice, enough to cover 11 days of national consumption, with ongoing efforts to meet the 15-day buffer stock requirement under the Rice Tariffication Law.
To sustain this effort, he said the agency proposed a P27 billion budget for this year, significantly higher than its P19 billion allocation for 2024, to support its continued procurement and other food security initiatives. / PNA