ILOILO – The provincial government is set to purchase an initial 20,000 bags of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) for distribution to households with malnourished children, in line with the national government’s “Benteng Bigas Meron Na” (BBMN) initiative that aims to offer rice at P20 per kilogram.
Maricris Chua, acting Economist IV of the NFA Region 6’s Buffer Stock Management Section, confirmed that coordination is already underway between the province, through Provincial Agriculturist Dr. Ildefonso Toledo, and the NFA to finalize procurement.
“The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist has been provided with the draft Memorandum of Agreement and discussions are ongoing,” Chua said in an interview on Usapang Agrikultura hosted by the Department of Agriculture Western Visayas over Radyo Pilipinas Iloilo.
The program targets 11,776 nutritionally at-risk households identified by the Provincial Health Office based on the 2024 Operation Timbang Plus results.
According to Provincial Nutrition Action Officer Dr. Wendel Marcelo, the beneficiaries include households with stunted, wasted, or underweight children.
Each identified household will be entitled to 10 kilograms of rice weekly for six months.
While the NFA sells rice at P33 per kilogram, the subsidy mechanism under the BBMN program reduces the cost to only P20 per kilo for the recipients. The Food Terminal Incorporated (FTI) will shoulder P6.50, the Department of Agriculture another P6.50, and the remaining P20 will be paid by the province.
Chua assured the public of the quality of NFA rice distributed through the program. “We conduct bag-to-bag inspection before release to ensure quality,” she said.
As of now, the NFA Region VI holds 1.4 million bags of palay and 80,000 bags of rice in its 16 warehouses — enough to last the region 16 days.
The agency is targeting to procure one million bags of palay from local farmers this year to strengthen its buffer stock and meet the demands of LGUs and government agencies, especially during calamities./PN
