Negros has enough rice supply – gov

BACOLOD CITY: Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr. assured Negrenses that there is enough rice supply in the province in the wake of reported absence of NFA rice in some parts of the country saying local farmers reported higher than the average produce.

The governor said the local production has increased exponentially with some farmers reporting they are producing seven tons per hectare which is a lot higher than the 4.2 tons average per hectare produced in the entire country.

He pointed out that local rice production did not go down despite the problems such as the grain bugs and the heavy rains experienced in the province recently.

Marañon said he wants Negros Occidental to become a major rice exporter aside from sugar.

“Actually we have already started exporting high- quality Japanese rice to restaurants in Metro Manila,” he said.

He added that organic rice is also being exported, and he is hoping that in the future the province would no longer import rice.

Earlier, the National Food Authority ( NFA) here again fell short of its rice distribution target.

Marianito Bejemino, provincial manager of NFA- Negros Occidental cited the sufficient supply of commercial rice in the province as the reason for the agency’s failure to hit its target.

Based on its 2017 Rice Distribution Accomplishment Report, NFA-Negros Occidental said 182,159 bags of NFA rice were distributed last year, 54 percent short of the target 400,000 bags.

Bejemino said that with sufficient supply of newly-milled rice, consumers prefer commercial over NFA rice and the undistributed bags of rice will add to the province’s existing buffer stocks.