Malacañang has assured farmers in Nueva Ecija that the government will keep buying their rice produce, but asked them to wait for their turn as the National Food Authority (NFA) is currently dealing with a long list of farmers.
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro also clarified that there are no full rice warehouses at present.
However, if NFA warehouses start to reach their full capacity, the government will rent warehouses they can use in order to accommodate all farmers who reached out to them to sell their produce.
"Kinausap po natin si Usec. Larry Ignacio at ang sabi po niya ay wala naman daw pong bodega na punung-puno na. At lahat po ng magbebenta na farmers, kailangan lamang po talagang pumila dahil peak season po ngayon at may mga magsasaka po na nauna na nagpalista at uunahin po lahat iyan (We have talked to Undersecretary Larry Ignacio and he said there is actually no full warehouse now. And all farmers selling their palay only need to wait in line because it is peak season now and there are famers who made it first to the list, and they will have to be accommodated first)," Castro explained in a Palace briefing on Tuesday, March 25.
"Kung kukulangin man daw po ang bodega, magri-rent po sila, ang NFA. So, lahat po na magbebenta na farmer, kung sila po ay may pagkakataon na hintayin ang kanilang turn, bibilin po ito ng NFA (If we run out of warehouses, the NFA will rent. So, every farmer selling their palay, if they can wait for their turn, the NFA will buy them)," Castro added.
"Hindi po natin tatanggihan ang lahat ng ibebenta ng farmers (We will not reject all rice the farmers are selling)," she assured them.
The Palace official appealed to the farmers to wait if they have time to, and the NFA warehouses will keep buying their produce.
At present, the NFA buying price of fresh or wet palay in Regions 1, 2, and 3 is pegged at P19 per kilo, and P18 in other areas. Dry palay, on the other hand, is being bought at P24 per kilo.