BACOLOD City – Buying stations of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental are open to purchasing locally-produced palay at a higher price amid the prevailing low-buying price offered by traders.
NFA provincial manager Frisco Canoy said they are offering a competitive price for rice farmers, and welcome any volume of palay for sale.
“We have been campaigning, especially through our meetings with the farmers, that we are still open to buy their produce,” Canoy said.
According to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), the buying price offered by traders in the province is between P13 and P14 per kilogram.
For its part, the NFA continues to procure palay from local farmers at a support price of P17 per kilogram.
The agency also provides incentives of P3 per kilogram, and P0.70 per kilogram comprised of drying incentive of P0.20, a delivery incentive of P0.20, and cooperative development incentive fee of P0.30 intended for associations where they belong.
Canoy said an individual farmer can receive a maximum of P20.40 per kilogram while members of farmer cooperatives can get a maximum of P20.70 per kilogram for palay sold to the NFA.
Since January this year, NFA-Negros Occidental has purchased about 2,000 bags of palay from farmers in the province.
The bulk of the procurement was done at the NFA buying station in San Carlos City, Negros Occidenra. The NFA also has buying stations in its warehouses in Ilog town and Bacolod City.
Processing Center is in Barangay Tabunan, Bago City, which is considered as the rice granary of Negros Occidental.
Canoy said their team in Bago can already start catering to farmers with dried palay.
“They can actually dry their palay at the processing center then it will be directly sold to us through our buying station there,” he added. (PNA)
