NFA buys more palay in surplus areas

To beef up its buffer stock, the government has bought more palay in surplus regions like Central Luzon, Western Visayas, and Cagayan Valley. A statement showed that National Food Authority (NFA) field offices from surplus regions like Central Luzon, Western Visayas, and Cagayan Valley have reported promising figures in their palay procurement activities for the month of October to beef up the buffer stock of the agency. In its latest report, NFA said it was able to procure 80,040 bags of palay (unhusked rice) as of October 25, 2017 as harvest begins to peak in some provinces across the country. This brought to 389,282 bags of palay already procured since January nationwide. To give support to this campaign, NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino also visited provinces with high procurement operations like Mindoro, Isabela, and the provinces of Central Luzon to personally observe the activities in the NFA branches during their palay-buying activities. “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 late Friday. At the rate of this year’s palay procurement, Aquino said NFA may likely achieve its procurement target for the year despite the low accomplishment in the summer harvest. (MBM)