NFA ramps up palay procurement

State-run National Food Authority is stepping up its palay-buying program particularly in surplus areas to beef up the agency’s rice inventory as the main crop harvest season begins this month.

NFA administrator Jason Aquino said procurement activities in Central Luzon, Western Visayas, and Cagayan Valley continue to increase which may in turn boost NFA’s buffer stock.

“We are optimistic that this trend will continue through the main harvest season (October to December) so that we can increase our buffer stock through local procurement as instructed by the President,” Aquino said.

“With good harvest and barring any unforeseen calamities that might impact the projected harvest this year, we may still achieve our target palay procurement this year,” he added.

The NFA aims to procure 4.6 million bags or about 230,000 metric tons (MT) of palay from local farmers nationwide until yearend to boost buffer stock and rice distribution requirements.

As of this week, however, NFA had only bought 390,000 bags of palay nationwide since it started buying in January.

NFA’s low palay procurement was due to the higher price offered by private traders compared to the government support price during the summer harvest.

Bulk of the target volume is expected to be bought starting this month until December as the main harvest season contributes 70 percent to the country’s total annual harvest.

The agency buys palay at P17 per kilogram and the standard 50-kg bag costs about P850.

Incentives are also being offered to individual farmers and farmer cooperatives nationwide, including delivery incentive of P0.20 to P0.50 per kilogram, P0.20 per kg drying incentive, P0.30/ kg Cooperative Development Incentive Fee.

Under the law, NFA is tasked to buy the palay produce of local farmers as buffer stock for calamities and other contingencies.