The National Food Authority has given out over the past two months a total of 25,850 sacks of milled rice to those affected by heavy rains across the nation, the earthquake in the Visayas and the standoff in Zamboanga City.
For ongoing relief operations in Zamboanga City, which was also recently hit by flash floods, the NFA has released a total of 14,196 bags.
These include 4,723 bags sent out through the Department of Social Work and Development; 3,000 bags through local governments; 3,000 to the Office of Civil Defense, and 3,473 to other relief institutions.
All these are on top of the 75,387 bags that had been made available through NFA-accredited retailers in the city. For the less accessible parts of Zamboanga, the grains agency has deployed five rolling stores.
In Central Luzon, the NFA’s regional office released a total of 2,248 bags of rice to relief agencies for relief operations in typhoon-affected areas.
The emergency rice supply was meant for some 153,450 families or 741,103 individuals from 640 barangays in the region which bore the brunt of Typhoon “Santi.”
Based on estimates by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Santi destroyed at least P2.3 billion worth of palay in Region 3.
In Bohol—epicenter of a magnitude 7.2 temblor that hit earlier this month—as well as Cebu, a total of 9,406 bags of rice were issued to various relief agencies.
As of Oct. 21, the NFA’s stock was pegged at 52,182 bags in Bohol.
Despite certain areas becoming isolated due to damaged infrastructure, the NFA said prices remained at pre-earthquake levels—P41 per kilo of regular-milled rice and P42 for well-milled rice.
“There were no reported damage to NFA stocks and properties in Bohol—and Cebu as well—except for small cracks at the NFA staff house,” the agency said.
According to the DA, total damage to palay farms is not enough to make a significant dent on the country’s rice stock even after more than 20 typhoons have entered Philippine territory this year.
Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said on Wednesday the amount of palay lost to bad weather stood at about 300,000 metric tons. This is just half of the 600,000 MT that the government has prepared for in 2013.