ILOILO – The Department of Agriculture (DA) will support the National Food Authority (NFA) in strengthening the procurement of palay from local farmers.
The NFA buying price of palay remains at P17 per kilo, lower than the commercial buying price that ranges from P18 to P22 every kilo.
However, NFA offers farmers with P0.80 incentives for the drying, transportation and if the farmers belong to cooperatives.
“NFA is not competing with commercial traders, they exist to stabilize the price of palay,” said Secretary Manny Piñol who was here on July 25 to distribute farm implements to farmers.
DA will put up drying facilities to every NFA buying station, he added.
“Farmers can dry their palay in this facility for free and the NFA will still give them P0.20 incentive for the drying,” said Piñol.
He instructed DA Region 6 director Remelyn Recoter to allot funds for the fuel requirement of these drying facilities in the region.
Piñol also mentioned that coop members who sell their palay to NFA will be given priority in accessing DA’s Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) Program.
“Last year, we allocated almost P1 billion for this PLEA program, an easy access, collateral-free loaning program with only six percent interest rate per year. And I am happy to announce that we have 96 percent repayment rate nationwide,” Piñol noted.
Another P3.4 billion will be allotted for the PLEA program implementation next year according to the DA chief.
Farmers’ associations and cooperatives that can sell 2,000 metric tons of palay to NFA will be granted farm machinery and equipment as another incentive.
“By providing these incentives, NFA will be in better position to serve the needs of the farmers with favorable buying price of palay,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte wanted 60-days buffer stocking that would require two million metric tons of palay to be stored at NFA warehouses.
“This cannot be done by the government alone that is why we need the involvement of private traders in this buffer stocking. The warehouses of private millers/traders will be stored with local palay. These traders will be given a special concession to import rice which is half of the volume of their buffer stocked rice,” said Piñol.
On the other hand, NFA regional manager Angel Imperial signified his support to the directives of the DA Secretary.
He also enjoined the farmers, traders, government agencies and consumers of Western Visayas to help in monitoring and reporting any corruption incidence in the palay procurement of NFA through the Kontra Abuso hotline. (Sheila Mae Toreno, DA-6/PN)
