ILOILO – Between September and October, the National Food Authority (NFA- Iloilo) was able to buy 598,000 bags of palay (unhusked rice) from farmers across the province.
The agency is stepping up its procurement effort to help small farmers overcome the challenges brought about by low palay prices due to the influx of imported rice.
According to Pat Espinosa, provincial information officer of NFA-Iloilo, for September their procurement reached 200,000 – exceeding their target of 130,000 bags.
For October, on the other hand, the procurement reached 358,000 bags of palay – more than double their target of 120,000 bags.
“This November our target procurement is 170,000 bags. We are hopeful of meeting it,” said Espinosa.
NFA’s buying price is P19 per kilo for clean and dry palay, and P14 to P15 per kilo for newly threshed palay.
The grains agency has been hopping from town to town to buy palay from small farmers complaining of shrinking prices, although it also has stationary buying stations at its main office in Jaro, Iloilo City; and the municipalities of Dumangas, Pototan and San Dionisio.
Espinosa said NFA-Iloilo plans to open its warehouse in Dueñas town to accommodate bags of palay bought from central Iloilo that could no longer be accommodated at its Pototan warehouse.
NFA-Iloilo’s daily volume of palay procurement reached 20,000, according to Espinosa./PN
