THE NATIONAL FOOD AUTHORITY plans to buy some 1 million metric tons of palay from local farmers in 2009 to further boost the country's buffer of the grain.

At the sidelines of the Asean-UN meeting in Manila on Wednesday, NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro said that with this target, the agency would likely need another P17 billion for its procurement activities.

The NFA buys clean and dry palay at P17 a kilo. For this year's main harvest, farmers get a cash incentive of P1,800 for every 50 bags of palay sold to the NFA.

This year, the government had set aside P17 billion to buy 1 million MT of palay from local farmers. This was aimed at cutting costly rice imports, which hit a high of 2.3 million MT worth about P70 billion this year.

Navarro said the NFA had so far bought more than 370,000 MT of palay from farmers, representing 37 percent of the government's target procurement for 2008. This boosted the agency's inventory to a level equivalent to 29 days of national consumption.

Filipinos consume about 33,100 MT of rice daily.

As of Oct. 1, the country's total rice stock--including stocks held by the private sector--was estimated at 2.18 million MT, enough to last for 66 days.

Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed that the NFA still holds the biggest volume at 933,400 MT, enough to last 28 days. Of the volume stocked in NFA warehouses, imported rice accounted for 90 percent.