The National Food Authority (NFA) has asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the ₱9 billion fund for “palay (unmilled rice) procurement this year, Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
The release of the funds, according to NFA Administrator Larry Lacson, will boost DA’s war chest to about ₱11 billion, helping achieve a procurement goal of between 6.4 million to 8.7 million bags of palay before the end of the year.
"The NFA asked the Department of Budget and Management to release the funds for palay procurement so we could support farmers and stabilize prices during the harvest this wet season," DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
The agriculture department said the NFA has utilized a leftover budget of ₱8.7 billion from 2023 to purchase palay from farmers earlier this year. In the first half, the NFA allocated ₱5.3 billion for the acquisition of 3.5 million bags of palay.
Meanwhile, Laurel, who chairs the NFA Council, assured farmers that the agency will buy palay between ₱21 and ₱23 per kilo.
The DA chief noted that maintaining the buying price at a minimum of ₱21 per kilo could help tackle reports of traders purchasing palay in Nueva Ecija for P16 to ₱17 per kilo.
Farmers' group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) has earlier reported that local farmers are now complaining about the ₱4 to ₱5 per kilo decrease in the farmgate price of palay.
Jayson Cainglet, the executive director of SINAG, said what they are worried about is the big drop in farmgate price of palay during the lean months.
“Currently nasa ₱14-₱16/kilo (freshly harvest) and ₱17-₱19/kilo (dry), down from the pre-EO 62 level of ₱22-₱25/ kilo (fresh) ₱25-₱29/kilo (dry) (Currently at ₱14-₱16/kilo (freshly harvest) and ₱17-₱19/kilo (dry), down from the pre-EO 62 level of ₱22-₱25/kilo (fresh) ₱25-₱29/ kilo (dry)),” he said.
As of Sept. 25, the NFA has procured a total of four million bags of palay.