NFA-6 denies it has stopped buying palay

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines - — The National Food Authority (NFA) in Western Visayas has not stopped buying palay from farmers in the region, said regional director Tomas Escarez on Thursday, in reaction to reports the agency has stopped buying palay from farmers in lieu of rice importation.

"Based on the new roadmap of NFA, we are intensifying local procurement of palay. We would rather buy (palay) for food security from the local farmers than from abroad," he said.

Escarez said the NFA-6 intended to buy 75,000 bags of palay from Negros Occidental. Right now, the NFA's buying price of palay is P17 per kilo, plus 70 centavos as incentives, he said, adding that, as such, it would cost the NFA P63.75 million.

After his courtesy call on Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. at the Capitol, Escarez told the media that even if the NFA has a target on how much rice to buy, he assured farmers that the agency would continue to buy for as long as they deliver their palay to the NFA warehouses.

Escarez said he discussed with Maranon the procurement of palay because the governor expressed his plans that the provincial government will also buy palay from local farmers.

One option is for the local government units to add additional premium to the price of palay. "For example, an LGU can add P1 to the NFA's buying price of P17 to make it P18 per kilo. Then we store the palay in NFA warehouses under the name of the participating LGU. The procured palay would serve as the LGU's food security stocks. The NFA could not move the stocks within six months because that LGU has the first option to buy them," he said.

If the price of palay increases in the market, the LGU can gain from its P1-premium. If not, the LGU can still consider it as its way of assisting the local farmers, said Escarez.

Escarez further denied reports that NFA-6 has a shortage of rice in its buffer stocks. "Right now we have enough for Western Visayas. Our rice inventory now is 1.2 million bags," he added.