KALIBO, Aklan – The rice inventory in Aklan is sufficient to meet daily rice consumption, even in this pandemic, according to National Food Authority (NFA) Capiz Branch Office acting manager Glenda Gonzales Paz following the merger of the agency’s Aklan and Capiz provincial offices.
Paz said they continue to buy palay direct from local farmers and maintain buffer stock for emergencies and calamities.
NFA encouraged farmers to sell their palay to its Aklan Grains Center in Banga, Aklan that buys P19 per kilogram of clean and dry palay with a classification of 14 percent moisture content and 95 to 100 percent purity.
“Bastante ang palay at rice stocks sa ating warehouses. Patuloy din ang milling of palay inventory at open anytime ang local government unit procurement,” she added.
To date, according to Acting Supervising Grains Officer Andy Panganiban Ostan, the province of Aklan has 3,000 rice bags and 95,000 bags of palay (unmilled) in the warehouse.
NFA Capiz and Aklan provincial offices merged last month as part of the implementation of Republic Act No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law. It is now known as Capiz Branch Office with main office in Barangay Bolo, Roxas City.
Aklan NFA in Linabuan Sur in Banga, Aklan is a sub-unit office of Capiz Branch Office after the restructuring of provincial offices in Western Visayas.
NFA Antique also merged with Iloilo Branch Office.
Paz, a resident of Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, was assigned as economist at the NFA regional office before her assignment in Capiz branch office. She is assisted in Capiz branch office by Assistant Manager Philip Cesar Rumbaoa, former assistant provincial manager of NFA South District Office in Taguig City./PN
