NFA hits highest summer crop procurement level

MANILA, Philippines —  The National Food Authority (NFA) has increased its procurement of rice from local farmers to 4.7 million bags, the highest ever recorded in five years, amid higher incentives.

Latest reports from the NFA Grains Marketing and Operations Department showed that the grains agency already procured a total of 4.7 million bags from January to May, a huge jump from the 71,420 bags bought during the same period last year.

The NFA procurement activities are revitalized by the agency’s new buying price, which increased from P17.70 to P20.70 per kilogram for clean and dry palay.

“More farmers are selling to NFA because we have increased our effective buying price. We are also more aggressive in palay procurement because under the Rice Tariffication Law, the agency can only source its buffer stock from local farmers,” NFA officer-in-charge administrator Tomas Escarez said.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the average farm gate price of palay was only P18.26 per kilogram in the third week of May, while some areas fell to as low as P14 per kilo.

The price level is 13 percent lower than the average farm gate price of P21.02 per kilo in the same period last year.

Escarez said the agency continues to focus on aggressive palay procurement from local farmers after the signing of the Rice Tariffication Law that mandates NFA to focus on local procurement for buffer stocking for calamities and emergencies.

“We are happy that the more we buy, the more farmers gain higher incomes as farm gate prices continue to dip. Our procurement operations are done on a year-round basis, and we are ready to buy as long as farmers have palay to sell to us,” Escarez said.

The NFA is currently preparing for the onset of the lean months from July to September when harvest is almost nil and natural calamities hit the country.

“With so much stockpile of palay, we have already given the green light for NFA field offices to start their milling operations so that there will be enough supply of good-quality rice for the requirements of government relief agencies and local government units in any emergency or calamity that traditionally hit the lean months period,” Escarez said.

“At the rate we are buying palay, we are optimistic the NFA will be able to meet its buffer stocking requirements of rice supply good for 15 to 30 days or 15 to 30 million bags,” he said.

NFA is currently buying at an average of 73,233 bags per day.

It also increased its previous target of palay procurement from 7.78 million bags to 14.46 million bags.

So far, NFA has expanded its share in the rice market from an average of 9.18 percent in 2018 to 11.76 percent in January.