By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan — Surveillance against illegal rice trading practices in Aklan has been intensified, a National Food Authority (NFA) official said.
Monitoring teams check rice supply and prices in markets and make sure that licensed retailers and wholesalers comply with NFA rules, Provincial Manager Martina Lodero said.
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents also help in the operation.
“Monitoring continues after accredited rice traders get their stocks from the NFA warehouse,” Lodero said. “When we visit the retailers, we check their stocks, as well as their white-painted boxes.”
Common illegal practices are mixing NFA rice with commercial rice and selling the product at a high price, and selling NFA rice as commercial rice.
NFA encouraged the public to report any illegal rice trading practices they see.
“If you think what you’ve bought was not commercial but NFA rice, take the product to us for a laboratory analysis,” said Lodero.
“NFA rice may be mistaken for commercial rice once mixed with the latter,” she added. “Both are similar in terms of quality.”
NFA-accredited outlets sell well-milled rice at P32 per kilo and regular-milled rice at P27 per kilo. There are six Bigasan outlets at the public market here. Several other Bigasan sa Barangay outlets are spread province-wide.
Lodero reminded accredited retailers to use price tags indicating the grade, price per kilogram, classification, and variety, and to display NFA-prescribed signboards bearing the business name and NFA license number.
Meanwhile, she said the agency is coordinating with churches in Kalibo and Banga in putting up Bigasan sa Parokya outlets to target urban poor families. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
