MANILA, Philippines - The National Food Authority (NFA) expects to be able to procure only 591,675 metric tons (MT) of palay or unhusked rice this year from local farmers, about half of the target procurement of 1.248 million metric tons (MMT) as contained in the rice roadmap.
This year’s palay production target is 19.2 MMT.
The government was hoping to purchase at least five per cent of the targeted palay production target this year.
According to NFA marketing operations director Lito Co, at a procurement price of P17.70/kilo, the budget requirement to buy the 591,675 MT of palay would just be P10.5 billion, less than half of the P22 billion budget proposed to buy the original palay procurement target of 1.248 million MT.
Last year, the NFA procured only 280,000 MT of palay worth P4.8 billion.
The highest palay procurement of the NFA was in 1979, amounting to 700,000 metric tons.
The NFA Council is sticking to its plan to import only 500,000 MT of rice this year to supplement the expected palay production which is still below actual consumption.
Meanwhile, the NFA is intensifying the promotion of its iron-fortified rice, I-Rice, especially in Regions 5, 6 and 9 which reportedly have a high malnutrition index making them priority areas in the implementation of the rice fortification program.