NFA increases rice allocation of retailers

To dispel allegations on rice crisis, the National Food Authority has increased the rice allocation of accredited retailers by 50 percent starting last Tuesday.

Edgar Diez, NFA spokesman, said that they already have enough rice supply and they will continue to increase the allocation of the “Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke” (rice retailers in the markets) until the end of the lean months in September.

At present, Diez said that they have 1.6 million to 1.7 million bags of imported rice in their warehouses and these are expected to last for 67 days. These rice stocks are to be distributed in the whole Central Visayas region, he added.

According to him, they are expecting 2.9 million more rice bags to arrive until November. “Sige ma’g abot ang atong rice supply. Karon naa pa ta’y upat ka barko nga moabot.”

Erwin Gok-ong, chapter vice president of the Grains Retailers Association-Cebu City North, said that from the previous 20 bags per week per retail outlet, they are now receiving 30 bags per week because of the additional allocation of 50 percent.

He said they expect their allocation to increase more in the coming weeks because they have been meeting with the NFA every other week to assess the situation.

Gok-ong, who is also the president of the Cebu Market Vendors Association, also said that instead of one kilogram per buyer, they are now allowed to sell two kilograms per customer.

“The NFA has now allowed us to sell two kilos. If mahurot dayon among supply, pwede mi kakuha og balik sa NFA,” he said.

Diez said that people continue to buy NFA rice because of the surging price of commercial rice, which has now reached P38 per kilo. NFA rice remains at P18.25 per kilo.

He said that the plan to increase the price of NFA rice is not yet approved. However, he added that they are planning to sell another kind of NFA rice, which is imported from the United States, at P25 per kilo.

 Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture-7 disclosed that the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council is planning to push for a P15-billion budget to help farmers increase their production in the form of loans.

DA-7 executive director Ricardo Oblena said that the ACPC will be the lead agency to organize this proposal. However, he said that there is still no specific time as to when will this be approved and how much will be appropriated for the region.

Presently, the DA, Cooperative Banks Federation of the Philippines and the Luzon farmers’ party-list group Butil came up with a memorandum of commitment to make loans worth P5 billion available to small farmers and fishermen.

Oblena said that the ACPC will make the recommendations to the DA as to how much of the P5 billion will be appropriated for Region VII.

“We are just hoping that this fund will come before the onset of the wet season cropping which is from May to October. This will give the farmers time to prepare in the planting of their crops, buying for the seeds and fertilizers,” Oblena said.

According to Oblena, aside from giving farmers access to loans, they also have information drives and demonstrations on planting hybrid rice.

He said that these are all efforts to increase food production and ease the rice-shortage crisis.

Further, regional director Teodulo Romo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-7 confirmed that the family access cards will soon be implemented in the region immediately after such get favorable response in its piloting in the National Capital Region.

The family that will qualify in the lifestyle check of the DSWD will use the family access cards to avail rice subsidies.

Prospective cardholders are families of five who are living in poverty status. They will have the advantage of acquiring subsidized rice worth P5,000.

While DSWD-7 has not yet received the specific guidelines in the lifestyle check of prospective holders, Romo presumes that the local government units shall be responsible of the identification of potential families and the processing of the cards. DSWD will only be in charge in the validation of said cards.

When asked if the cards will possibly cause commotion especially if unqualified families complain, Romo said they will ensure that DSWD will strictly follow the guidelines in the lifestyle checking. Furthermore, should families complain, DSWD will be open for review of the check and possible queries that may arise.

“The LGUs, I’m sure, will help us facilitate well the implementation of these cards,” Romo said.

He explained that the cards will probably be used for a long-term basis especially if they can “establish a good database of families who are found suffering from abject poverty.”

Cardholders can also use the family access cards in availing future programs and services of the government, Romo said. —  Wenna A. Berondo, Celeste June D. Rivera and Anthony S. Teo, MEEV