BACOLOD City – Rice supply in Negros Occidental is “safe and very sufficient,” according to National Food Authority (NFA) provincial manager Frisco Canoy.
Commercial and government inventory in the province suggest that the present rice stocks could only last for 30 days but Canoy said these are enough until October’s rice harvest peak.
Imported rice will also arrive in Negros Occidental, he added.
“Within 30 days, we expect to have our import allocation,” Canoy said.
He added that Rice traders also have incoming stocks as they started buying stocks from other provinces.
The total rice inventory in Negros Occidental reached 618,000 bags – about 16,000 bags of which are government rice stored in the NFA warehouses.
At least 600,000 bags account for commercial rice stocked by millers, wholesalers, retailers, and households.
With an average daily consumption of 20,600 bags, the existing rice supply in the province will last for a month.
Canoy said NFA rice in the province only accounts for 10 percent of consumption while commercial rice, 90 percent.
“If we are going to distribute all our stocks, it will take us only two weeks to do it. We will stretch our remaining 16,000 bags until our importation arrives,” he said.
The first imported rice allocation for Negros Occidental this year – totaling 80,000 bags from Thailand – arrived in July.
An additional importation of 6.5 metric tons or 130,000 bags will follow. But no arrival schedule was set yet.
Canoy said despite the current limited volume of the government’s P27-per-kilogram rice, the NFA is ensuring that its warehouses will not be empty until buffer stocks are available.
Since the NFA has food security requirement and has to provide rice supply in times of calamities, its stocks should not be totally sold, Canoy added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
