The National Food Authority (NFA) is urging farmers to spend more time and effort into drying their harvests, as it emphasized how this could significantly increase their earnings.

As the Philippines is transitioning into dry season, farmers are told to take advantage of the blistering weather to thoroughly dry their palay or unmilled rice.

While drying palay may take a couple more days and an extra cost of roughly ₱1 per kilo, the NFA said the rewards are “substantial” for farmers.

In a statement on Wednesday, March 5, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said farmers can expect an additional net income of ₱4 per kilo.

For instance, a farmer harvesting five tons per hectare could net an extra ₱20,000, he said.

Lacson’s appeal comes as the NFA raised the buying price for wet palay to ₱18 per kilo and dry palay to ₱24 per kilo.

Local rice millers are reported to pay as little as ₱15 per kilo for wet palay, and ₱20 to ₱22 per kilo for dry palay.

Aside from potentially boosting their earnings, Lacson said once farmers invest more time into drying their harvests, they could help aid the country in meeting its growing rice supply demands.

The NFA aims to purchase 880,000 metric tons (MT) of palay this year to meet the rice buffer stock requirement that is equivalent to 15 days of national consumption, as prescribed under the amended Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

The agency has a procurement budget of about ₱14 billion this year, including ₱5 billion carried over from last year’s budget.

As it prepares to keep up with the stock requirement, the NFA has been ramping up its rice milling operations, expanding warehouse capacity, and investing in new trucks to improve procurement efforts.

Lacson earlier urged participating local government units (LGUs) to expedite their procurement of rice stocks as part of the mandate under the food security emergency on rice.

The NFA is accelerating the decongestion of its warehouses as the harvest season nears.

Last month, the Department of Agriculture (DA) declared a food security emergency on rice as prices of the staple food remain high. Under this, the NFA is authorized to release rice buffer stocks to help stabilize prices.