THE National Food Authority said it had the mandate to dispose of its rice in good and consumable condition, adding that it responsibly released its supply by stretching to maximum shelf-life and minimizing the sale of residual volume to other accounts.
The NFA released the statement after Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel created a panel to look into allegations that certain NFA officials authorized the sale of milled rice stored in the agency’s warehouse for P25 per kilogram (kg) without bidding and after purchasing the grains in palay form at P23 per kilo.
“NFA is mandated to keep and dispose of 99.9 percent stocks in good and consumable condition. The rice we are selling are all sold at the mandated selling price of P25/kg, although aging stocks need to be re-milled before they could be released to the consumers,” the NFA said.
NFA administrator Rod Bioco said what the Department of Agriculture (DA) started was an inquiry and not a formal investigation.
Bioco said that under the NFA’s guidelines, rice inventory that has been stored for three months after milling should be disposed of before it becomes unfit for human consumption.
After three months, the NFA is required to re-mill the rice which will result in additional processing, logistics, and recovery of loss costs to make the stocks acceptable to consumers.
“To avoid these costs, NFA can opt to sell at the highest mandated price to qualified commercial buyers on as-is where-is, no-selection, and first-in-first-out bases (and first-come-first-serve basis, meaning the first buyer gets to buy the oldest stocks),” the NFA said.
The NFA said it disposed of its inventory in a responsible manner. (GMA Integrated News)
