NFA starts buying palay at higher prices

THE National Food Authority (NFA) has started procuring palay (unmilled rice) from farmers at higher prices as part of its effort to increase its rice buffer stocks.

NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said on Monday that the NFA Council approved on April 11 a higher buying price for palay to improve the income of Filipino rice farmers, marking “new era for NFA palay buying.”

The new buying prices for palay now range from P17 to P23 per kilo (kg) for fresh or wet palay and P23 to P30 per kg for dry.

“The NFA Council had to raise buying prices for palay after prolonged high farm gate prices persist to secure supply,” the NFA said on Monday.

The latest prices are higher than the previous prices of P23 per kg for dry and P19 per kg for wet. The NFA said that it ditched the single pricing system, and there will be no uniform price nationwide like before.

“This is unique in a sense that different provinces will have different prices depending on the conditions in the province such as prevailing farm gate price, remaining harvest, and most importantly the target palay procurement for the area,” Lacson said.

The new buying prices will be on a per province basis as a consideration to the support price provided by some local government units to help improve farmers’ income. This is also an alternative to selling palay to private traders.

Lacson earlier said that they will issue a price bulletin for each province as prices of palay vary in different areas.