Subsidize NFA’s rice purchases – Robredo

Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo suggested ways to deal with problems resulting from the shortage of buffer stock of National Food Authority (NFA) rice.

Robredo presented this option to the government: Subsidize NFA’s purchase of rice grains.

She said the shortage of subsidized rice was due to the low farm gate price ceiling of the government.

“Iyong dahilan talaga nito, dahil mababa iyong bili ng NFA. Iyong ibang mga suppliers dito, ang bili nila is 19 pesos; ang NFA ay 17 [pesos] lang iyong bili. So sino iyong ma-e- engganyong magbenta sa NFA (The reason really behind it is because the NFA buys it at lower price. The other suppliers here buy it at R19; NFA buys it at R17. So who will be enticed to sell it to NFA)?,” Robredo said. With this, the Vice President explained that local producers would rather sell their products at a higher price to private retailers.

“Baka puwedeng makabili at 19 [pesos], para mapunuan lang iyong ideal na buffer stock para bumaba ulit iyong presyo ng bigas (Maybe they can buy it for R19 so they can meet the ideal buffer stock in order the prices of rice will go down),” she said.

The Vice President made a proposal to increase the farm gate price from R17 to R19 during her recent visit to Pili Public Market, Camarines Sur, where she checked on rice prices and the availability of subsidized rice in the area.

Robredo spoke with retailers and consumers, who told her about NFA rice shortage in the market that caused the price increase.