Calibration of NFA rice distribution on amid importation arrival delays

THE National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental continues to calibrate its rice distribution as the arrival of additional import allocation for the province is again delayed.

This was confirmed to Sunstar Bacolod by Nfanegros Occidental Provincial Manager Frisco Canoy, who said the scheduled arrival of the vessel carrying 100,000 bags of rice from Thailand will be extended.

It can be recalled that the allocation for Negros Occidental forms part of the total 600,000 bags loaded in one vessel which first un- loaded stocks in Mindanao.

Of the volume, 200,000 bags were already unloaded in General Santos City while the unloading of the remaining 300,000 bags in Davao City is still ongoing.

As of Saturday, November 10, some 83,000 bags are still up for unloading in Davao, Canoy said.

“The unloading has been delayed due to bad weather. If it gets fine, they target to finish in one to two weeks,” he said, adding that “if not by the end of the month, we will have our import allocation by the first week of December.”

In July, Negros Occidental received 80,000 bags also from Thailand.

The volume is the first import allocation of the province for this year after several months of having zero buffer stock.

After it was fully distributed, Nfa-negros Occidental requested a total of 20,000 bags as augmentation from Iloilo.

Canoy said their remaining inventory is about 5,000 bags which account for the balance of the augmented stocks from the nearby province.

These can only last for three days if based on the 10 percent share of the government rice in the 20,600 bags daily consumption of the province.

Canoy, however, said they have nothing to do for now but to calibrate the distribution pending the arrival of imported rice.

“We reduced the distribution to 10 bags per retail outlet among markets and five bags for those outside the markets like barangays,” he said, adding that they also suspend the operation of “tagpuan” outlets.

Canoy added, “we will resume as soon as our allocation arrives and eventually increase the distribution in both tagpuan and regular retail outlets.”*

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO THESE five units of transplanter amounting to about P4.4 million form part of the P9.2 million worth of machineries purchased by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental for its province-led focused mechanization program.