Marcos lauds NFA reforms; boosts food security
Published Jun 18, 2023 01:21 am
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has praised the National Food Authority (NFA) for implementing reforms in response to challenges in attaining food security.
*President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)*
Marcos said this after he met the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) on agriculture in Malacañang on June 15. In his remarks, the President said he was happy that the NFA had found its way back to its original purpose. "I'm happy to see that NFA is returning to its original function in trying to even out the price of rice, making it stable all throughout harvest and then the planting cycle," he said. Marcos' remark was in response to the report that the NFA would transition to providing physical rice stock from granting cash assistance to poor households under the government's welfare program as part of the agency's new rice stocking scheme. "There has been an endeavor before to make this physical, but NFA has not been able to transition to that physical stock, and this is where we're going to change as part of our transformation from that, when we buffer, we actually buffer for the poor," NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco told Marcos. Bioco said the government now has more P35-billion for rice procurement. The target was to supply poor households with physical rice so that they do not have to go to the market to buy rice, which, in the end, will put less pressure on rice prices. The NFA is mandated to procure palay locally and maintain the optimal level of buffer stock at all times strategically located across the country. "What we hope to achieve is that quantitative easing in prices of rice… supply the bottom 18 percent of our society, take that away from the market, then we can put lesser pressure on prices, especially during the lean season," he said. "So, that's why traditionally, NFA is supposed to have a 30-day buffer stock before the lean season. It was easier because you just import, but now we have to procure palay nine months earlier," he added. Bioco noted that Indonesia is implementing a similar scheme, with its government producing more than 200,000 metric tons of rice monthly. However, he raised the present difficulty being encountered by Asian nations in securing food stock to temper the rise in prices during the lean season. President Marcos has ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the NFA [to look into the feasibility and efficiency of building rice and corn station modules](https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/17/marcos-eyes-silos-to-ensure-rice-buffer-stock) using a mother-daughter or hub-and-spoke system to ensure a 30-day buffer stock of rice and corn in the country.
*President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)*
Marcos said this after he met the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) on agriculture in Malacañang on June 15. In his remarks, the President said he was happy that the NFA had found its way back to its original purpose. "I'm happy to see that NFA is returning to its original function in trying to even out the price of rice, making it stable all throughout harvest and then the planting cycle," he said. Marcos' remark was in response to the report that the NFA would transition to providing physical rice stock from granting cash assistance to poor households under the government's welfare program as part of the agency's new rice stocking scheme. "There has been an endeavor before to make this physical, but NFA has not been able to transition to that physical stock, and this is where we're going to change as part of our transformation from that, when we buffer, we actually buffer for the poor," NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco told Marcos. Bioco said the government now has more P35-billion for rice procurement. The target was to supply poor households with physical rice so that they do not have to go to the market to buy rice, which, in the end, will put less pressure on rice prices. The NFA is mandated to procure palay locally and maintain the optimal level of buffer stock at all times strategically located across the country. "What we hope to achieve is that quantitative easing in prices of rice… supply the bottom 18 percent of our society, take that away from the market, then we can put lesser pressure on prices, especially during the lean season," he said. "So, that's why traditionally, NFA is supposed to have a 30-day buffer stock before the lean season. It was easier because you just import, but now we have to procure palay nine months earlier," he added. Bioco noted that Indonesia is implementing a similar scheme, with its government producing more than 200,000 metric tons of rice monthly. However, he raised the present difficulty being encountered by Asian nations in securing food stock to temper the rise in prices during the lean season. President Marcos has ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the NFA [to look into the feasibility and efficiency of building rice and corn station modules](https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/17/marcos-eyes-silos-to-ensure-rice-buffer-stock) using a mother-daughter or hub-and-spoke system to ensure a 30-day buffer stock of rice and corn in the country.