CEBU, Philippines – Bracing for the lean months, Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has ordered the National Food Authority to strictly monitor rice distribution in the upcoming months.
Yap said there is a need to prepare for “an upsurge in demand during the onset of the lean months, especially with the opening of the regular school year.”
Supply of commercial rice usually drops during the lean months, prompting Yap to instruct NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro to monitor the availability of NFA rice in different outlets.
Navarro instructed NFA field officials to monitor the supply as well as the prices.
“The monitoring should be regularly undertaken and their respective reports should reflect the lowest, modal and highest prices of commercial rice,” Navarro said.
In Cebu, a major corn consuming area, rice distribution reached 6,086 bags per day. This is more than half of the rice requirement in the whole region.
The DA expects a slowdown in palay’s output growth from April to June because of the advance planting by farmers in the first three months of the year.
But NFA assured that there is enough supply of rice for July to September. — AJ de la Torre/LPM (THE FREEMAN)