NFA: Enough rice for Central Visayas
The National Food Authority yesterday said that with an inventory of 700,000 bags of rice as of April10, Central Visayas has sufficient rice supply.
"Central Visayas is in a comfortable level, which means we have sufficient rice supply," said NFA-7 Information Officer Olma Marie Bayno.
The government, however, needs an additional stockpile of rice in preparation for the calamity-prone lean months of July to September.
At present, the NFA needs additional 490,800 metric tons or 9.8 million bags of rice to meet the mandated volume for food security.
"Much as we would want this additional stock to come from local produce, we cannot compete with the private traders who are offering prices much higher than the government's P17/ kilogram support price,” NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino said in a statement.
NFA's field monitoring shows that traders are buying rice from the “summer” harvest at an average of P18 to P20 per kilogram across the country.
Aquino said that the only way NFA can fill the deficit in its rice buffer stock requirement is through importation.
"It's always better safe than sorry, especially when dealing with our people's basic staple. If the government does not possess the right volume of stocks when the lean months come, who would provide for the needs of calamity victims? Surely not the private businessmen who will never transact business at a loss,” he said.
Initially, the NFA is seeking approval from the NFA council for the immediate government-togovernment importation of the balance of 250,000 metric tons out of the 500,000 MT rice imports approved for 2016.
Ideally, Aquino said that the whole volume should arrive in the country within April to allow the NFA to preposition the stocks, especially in calamity-prone areas across the country.
He identified the said areas as including Batanes; Camiguin; Catanduanes; Marinduque; Romblon; Polilio; Siquijor; Guimaras; Palanan in Isabela; and Bantayan, Sta. Fe, and Camotes Island in Cebu.