ILOILO CITY—For more than nine months of the year, the National Food Authority (NFA) has procured 1.27 million bags of palay (unmilled rice) for Western Visayas region from local farmers.
NFA-6 Regional Manager Dianne Silva said it was going to procure another 800,000 bags by the end of the year to beef up its stock for the rice needs of the region.
“Notwithstanding our accomplishments from January to June, we were given a catch-up plan to procure more bags than our original target for the year,” said Silva.
As per NFA data, Western Visayas region was second to Cagayan Valley with the highest volume of palay procurement from local farmers.
NFA in Western Visayas has a buffer stock of 727,369 bags of rice, which would be enough if a major disaster strikes in the region.
With P15 per kilo as prevailing buying rice of palay, NFA has urged local rice farmers to dry their palay, and directly sell their harvest to NFA, which buys at ₱19 per kilo.
Silva reiterated that rice farmers in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces should avail of the program of the NFA that offers a higher rate than the prevailing market price.