NFA exceeds palay procurement target

MANILA, Philippines — The National Food Authority (NFA) continued to intensify its local procurement in January to July, buying nearly six million bags of palay.

NFA exceeded its target amid higher incentives despite plunging farm gate prices.

Latest report from the NFA grains marketing and operations department showed that the agency already procured a total of 5.68 million bags in the first seven months.

For July alone, the NFA bought 271,852 bags of palay,  170 percent higher than its procurement target of 159,540 bags.

“Our procurement record, where we have been topping our targets since NFA’s mandate was revised to focus on local procurement for buffer stocking, shows that we have been effectively fulfilling our new role and helping farmers earn a reasonable income while consumers enjoy lower rice prices as a result of the rice import liberalization law passed early this year,” NFA administrator Judy Dansal said.

The Rice Tariffication Law removed NFA’s rice importation  function and  regulatory powers over the grains industry. NFA, instead, focused only on  buffer stocking for calamities and emergencies.

“The law stipulates that we can buy only from local farmers so we stepped up our procurement. That’s why we are exceeding our targets,” she said.

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

With the additional incentive, an individual farmer can earn as much as P20.40 per kilo and up to P20.70 for farmer cooperatives.

NFA palay procurement is still mostly from surplus areas like Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Bulacan, Cagayan, Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, and Nueva Vizcaya.

Dansal assured farmers that the NFA was  always ready to buy farmer deliveries at its 303 buying stations nationwide.

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

It a 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 to 11.76 percent from an average of 9.18 percent last year.