NFA repacks rice to curb hoarding

The National Food Authority in Central Visayas begun last Friday the distribution of rice in one and two-kilogram packs instead of the usual 50-kilogram bags to retailers in a bid to curb rice hoarding and diversion.

NFA-7 director Danilo Bonabon said the repacking of the NFA rice into one and two-kilogram packs would prevent the diversion of government-subsidized rice to people other than its intended customers. Bonabon said that the government has spent money for the repacking and assured the consumers that there will be no increase of prices.

According to Bonabon, the repacking would entail no extra cost to the customers as NFA rice will still be sold at P18.25 per kilo.

Bonabon explained that the repacked NFA rice will still be placed in a sack to make it easier for the retailers to transport. However, he said there will be escorts to all deliveries to ensure that it is not diverted to private warehouses.

He also said that they have also signed a memorandum of agreement with the NFA rice retailers to limit the quantity of rice sold to every customer. He said they have agreed that each customer will be allowed only three kilos of rice in a day.

Bonabon explained that this is also another measure that they have adopted to ensure that unscrupulous businessmen will not be able to take advantage by buying large quantity and reselling it at a higher price.

Contrary to what has been claimed by the Grain Retailers Confederation of the Philippines that there is a shortage of rice supply in Cebu, he said that there is no truth to it.

According to him, Cebu still has enough supply of rice for the next 65 days according to their inventory.

As of March 28, Bonabon said that the rice inventory of NFA for Central Visayas is 1,590,000 bags. He added that they are also expecting the arrival of imported rice today which is part of the 4.7 million bags of import allocations to Central Visayas.

Bonabon further said that the public should not worry on the reported rice crisis because “we have enough supply” and that they are also expecting 7.2 million metric tons of local rice productions from January to June this year.

He explained that the increase in prices at the market is not because of the shortage of supply but because of the high production cost. – Fred P. Languido/MEEV