DA, mayors to supply NFA rice to poor

By next week, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority will start directly distributing  between 15,000 to 20,000 bags of NFA rice a day to poor families with less than P152 a day to spend for food.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said he has reached an agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the League of Mayors to help the NFA intensify the distribution of government-subsidized rice in the country’s 12 highly populated areas.

Yap said the areas where he has ordered the NFA to increase the distribution of government-subsidized rice sold at P18.25 per kilo are Metro Manila, Baguio City, Lucena City, Legaspi City, Albay, Tacloban City, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Dumaguete City, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City and General Santos City.

He directed the NFA to closely coordinate with the DSWD, local government units (LGUs) and faith-based communities to ensure that the poorest of the poor will be the first to buy NFA rice.

“We will intensify the distribution of NFA rice in these 12 areas to help ensure that cheap rice reaches the widest swath of the population where poor families reside,” Yap said.  

Yap told The STAR that the DA, NFA, DSWD and local governments are still trying to “clean up” their respective lists to ensure that only families with less than P152 to spend for food would be the targeted beneficiaries.

He clarified that the NFA rice would be sold to the targeted families at P18.25 per kilo and that there would be no dole-outs or free rice.

The DA-NFA is intensifying its distribution of rice to stabilize the prices of the food staple and make affordable rice available to low-income consumers.

Yap’s decision to work with local governments, however, is being criticized by the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1), which is urging the DA and NFA to work only with the DSWD.

In an interview, R1 lead convenor Jessica Cantos-Reyes said coursing the distribution of NFA rice through LGUs may again lead to diversions. However, Yap came to the defense of the LGUs, arguing that “R1 should not prejudge the LGU’s ability to distribute food.”

“They have the list and the capability, along with the DSWD,” he said. “We are therefore just cleaning up our individual lists to avoid duplication.”

NFA administrator Jessup Navarro said the agency will begin increasing the distribution of government-subsidized rice in these 12 areas next week.

Yap said the DA is drawing up a food production masterplan with experts from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) along with the Eminent Persons Group, which will help oversee the implementation of Malacañang’s P43.7-billion package of intervention measures for Philippine agriculture.

“We are working on a masterplan for sustained agricultural growth from now till 2010. Philippine agriculture is not all rice, we have other sectors to protect,” Yap said.

“We are taking the opportunity as well to look at the other sub-sectors of agriculture,” he added. 

Yap said that among the measures that the DA is studying is the expansion of the subsidy program for seeds and fertilizers and the involvement of LGUs in rice production, particularly in the country’s 37 biggest rice-growing provinces.

He said these were among the recommendations made by the Eminent Persons Group during a meeting last Monday to discuss ways on how to efficiently implement Malacañang’s heightened commitment to guarantee food security.