NFA to keep building up rice buffer stock

NFA rice (File photo by RAFFY LERMA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The National Food Authority (NFA) will continue building up the country’s buffer stock for emergencies and natural disasters even after surpassing its palay procurement target for the first half of this year.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the NFA said it bought about 3.37 million 50-kilogram bags of palay as of June 13—already higher than its upgraded target of 3.36 million bags for the first semester of 2024.

The agency said the volume, equivalent to around 168,262 metric tons, (MT) is enough to cover four days of national rice consumption.

NFA administrator Larry Lacson said the food agency remains committed to continue buying palay from local farmers, as mandated by law, at prices higher than traders’ offers.

“We continue to scour the countryside for additional palay that we could buy to bolster the national buffer stock,” Lacson said.

The NFA head said earlier there had been a clamor from farmers for them to no stop, but continue purchasing their grains, especially after the NFA Council approved a higher buying price in April.

The NFA procurement price ranges from P23 to P30 per kg for clean and dry palay while the buying price for fresh and wet palay increased to P17 per kg to P23 per kg.

The NFA said it has a budget of P17 billion for buying the national staple produced locally this year, including rollover funds from 2023. It still has around P12 billion for the second half of 2024 for the same purpose.

Of that amount, 300,000 MT will be maintained as reserves while 12,000 MT will be committed to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Food Security Reserve.

Under the Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA should maintain a national rice buffer stock equivalent to at least nine days of consumption. INQ