Mindanaotoday.com | NFA ‘begs’ for palay from MisOr farmers
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A provincial official of the state’s grains agency issued a public appeal to “palay” farmers on Wednesday, August 31, to sell their produce to them so they could maintain an ideal buffer-stock inventory necessary in responding to calamities.
Ida Corazon Eli, branch manager of the National Food Authority (NFA) Misamis Oriental, said NFA is allowed to buy 10 percent of locally produced palay under its procurement program.
In a “Meet the Press” forum in Cagayan de Oro, Eli said they had a vital role at the height of the pandemic with 200,000 bags of rice drawn from its warehouses and delivered to local governments for its food assistance to those locked in homes and in isolation facilities.
She said every time there are evacuations due to fire or flood, they readily respond to calls from affected villages for affordable yet quality supply of rice.
Eli said they intend to procure 11,800 bags (590 metric tons) of palay per semester this year from 22 palay production areas – 17 in Misamis Oriental and five nearby towns of Bukidnon.
For the year, NFA Misamis Oriental shall have procured some 1,180 MT which is equivalent to 5.64 percent of the 20,929 MT palay production in the province in 2021, official figures the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released in June this year.
PSA estimated the province’s area harvested last year at 5,518 hectares, of which Gingoog City had about 506 has. devoted to palay production.
Eli said their buying price is still P19 per kilo of clean and dry palay and that payment is cash as P300,000.
She assured all local governments, social welfare offices, and jail facilities they can request for replenishment from nearby NFA branches such as Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte, both with vast palay production areas, once they have supply shortages.
Meanwhile, Evangeline Viadnes, NFA Misamis Oriental quality assurance officer, said they check on moisture content (MC 14 and below), purity, and discoloration of palay so they could determine the buying price as high as P19 to as low as P13.33 a kilo.
Quality of NFA rice is maintained in its warehouses by observance of 6/3 protocol – six months for palay and three months for rice within which period, stocks must be delivered to intended recipients.
In the same forum, Shellanie Hampac, NFA Misamis Oriental information officer, said most farmers within their area of responsibility, including Camiguin sub-branch, produce palay primarily for household consumption.
For this reason, NFA continues to supply Camiguin rice retailers because the island province does not produce enough for its residents, Hampac said.
After the passage of Republic Act 11203 (Rice Tariffication Law) in 2019, NFA’s role is primarily on palay procurement for buffer-stock, and no longer involved in rice importation, licensing and accreditation of retailers and warehouses, retail price regulation, as well as in supply and demand monitoring. (MT)
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