ILOILO City – The National Food Authority (NFA) is hoping to complete the unloading here of 170,000 bags of imported rice from Thailand.
To date, 114,931 bags have already been unloaded since Sept. 21.
The imported rice, onboard M/V Dong Phu, arrived at the International Commercial Port Complex (ICPC) in Barangay Loboc, Lapuz on Sept. 20, said Herrielle Jumagbas, acting NFA Iloilo provincial manager.
The imported rice was intended for four provinces with Aklan and Antique to each get 22,000 bags; Capiz, 29,000 bags; and Iloilo and Guimaras with 97,000 bags each.
Each bag contains 50 kilograms of rice.
Jumagbas said the imported rice were being brought to their Kabasaka Triplex Warehouse in Jaro district and at the Dumangas Grains Center in Dumangas, Iloilo. From there, these would be shipped to other NFA provincial offices.
“The long-grain rice are 25 percent broken and will be sold at P27 in the market,” she added.
The new stocks are expected to help bring down rice prices in the market by P1 to P2 per kilogram.
Of the available stocks, retailers can get 20 bags per week per outlet and 10 bags for those outside of the market.
In Iloilo, NFA has 216 retailers; 103 are inside markets.
NFA releases around 3,190 bags for the markets every week.
NFA rice sells fast, said Jumagbas, but they put a limit of five kilos per bag per person to accommodate a larger number of clients.
Part of the stocks goes to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
NFA Antique received an initial 5,000 bags as of Sept. 23, according to NFA Antique provincial manager Marianito Bejemino.
The 3,000 bags were delivered to the Culasi warehouse in northern Antique on Sept 23. and 2,000 bags to the NFA San Jose de Buenavista warehouse the next day, said Bejemino.
Of the 22,000 bags for Antique, about 3,000 bags would be for the Supplemental Feeding Program of the DSWD for day-care children while the rest will be distributed to some 70 accredited rice retailers. (PNA/PN)
