KALIBO, Aklan –There is still enough supply of rice in this province amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the National Food Authority (NFA) here said.
According to NFA-Aklan acting operation officer Andy Ostan, there is a high demand from local government units (LGUs) in this province for their constituents. LGUs here have already purchased a total of 21,322 bags of 50-kilogram rice.
NFA-Aklan currently has 88,600 bags of palay and 1,517 bags of rice as of April 15.
“To increase our rice stocks, NFA-Iloilo will augment 5,000 bags of rice. Pero continuous pa rin ang milling natin in the two rice mills in Aklan. Ang average daily sales in LGUs is 1,489 bags, and if basehan ang daily sales, our stocks will last 39 days,” Ostan said in an interview on Wednesday.
NFA-Aklan is buying clean and dry palay from local farmers for P19 per kilo to sustain its local buying operations.
The food agency here purchased 17,191 bags of palay in March and then another 1,223 bags of it in April from individual farmers and farmers’ associations in Aklan.
Meanwhile, rice traders in this province now purchase palay for P21 per kilo and clean and dry palay for P16.50 per kilo at the lowest.
“Hindi rin halos makalabas para magbenta ang mga farmers kasi most of them are senior citizens na. Limited din ang access namin to conduct mobile procurement since hindi dapat magsisiksikan sa sasakyan,” said Ostan, who is also the designated NFA-Aklan standards and quality assurance officer. Republic Act 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law mandates NFA to maintain a sufficient level of rice buffer stock sourced locally for calamity operations like the COVID-19 outbreak.
This province has extended its ECQ period from April 14 to April 30 in a much higher bid to curb the spread of the virus.(With a report from Akean Forum/PN)
