Raise palay buying price, NFA urged

MALOLOS, Bulacan, Philippines — Farmers based in Central Luzon are appealing to the National Food Authority (NFA) to raise the buying price of palay from P19 to P22 per kilo.

In a letter to the NFA Council, Simeon Sioson, chairman of the Federation of Central Luzon Farmers Cooperative, said that prior to the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the farmgate price for newly harvested rice ranged from P16 to P20 per kilo, and from P20 to P24 per kilo for clean and dry palay.

Sioson said the NFA at the time was procuring palay from farmer cooperatives at a government support price of P20.70.

Since the implementation of the RTL in the first quarter of 2019, the farmgate price for newly harvested palay has slid down to P10 to P14 per kilo, and from P16 to P19 per kilo for clean and dry palay, Sioson said.

Another problem, Sioson said, was the increase in the costs of farm inputs such as fertilizer and machinery.