MANILA – To support more local rice farmers, the National Food Authority (NFA) on Tuesday said it is set to open a newly refurbished warehouse in Cabanatuan.
“Sa Friday may i-o-open kaming (On Friday, we will open) newly renovated warehouse [in Cabanatuan],” NFA Administrator Larry Lacson told the Philippine News Agency in a Viber message.
Lacson said they have expedited the renovation of NFA warehouses to cater to the needs of palay (unhusked rice) farmers as the country reaches the tail end of the harvest season.
“This is aside from the new warehouses na na-open na namin sa (that we will open in) Bulacan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Albay [and] Dipolog,” he added.
On June 20, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and Lacson led the inspection of a newly refurbished NFA warehouse in Roxas, Isabela.
Besides Roxas, two NFA warehouses were also renovated in Burgos and Tumauini, with all three having a total capacity of 148,000 50-kilogram bags of rice.
Other refurbished warehouses include those in Bagabag and Bayombong in Nueva Vizcaya, which has a capacity of 160,620 50-kg bags; and in Alfonso Lista and Lagawe in Ifugao, with 28,880 50-kg bag capacity.
The NFA has been ramping up renovation of warehouses amid reports of low traders’ prices for local palay in some areas in the country, with some areas selling as low as PHP10 per kilogram.
Lacson, meanwhile, said the NFA has reached 135 percent of its target palay procurement.
“As of June 18, 5.4 million bags na palay nabili namin versus 3.97 million bags na target namin (of palay have been procured versus our 3.97 million bags target),” he said.
To date, he said the NFA’s current rice inventory is good for 11.5 days of the country’s national rice buffer stock. (PNA)