THE NATIONAL Food Authority (NFA) said Thursday, November 12, that farmers may earn up to P8 per kilo after it recently raised the palay buying price to P30 per kilogram.
“Malaking epekto ito sa mga magsasaka. Unang-una, tumaas ang presyo, meaning malaki ang take-home nila. Sa tinatayang P16-P17 production cost eh kung susumahin nga baka kumita sila ‘pag pinatuyo nila lahat and all, kumita sila diyan ng mga P7 hanggang P8 per kilo,” said NFA administrator Larry Lacson in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB.
The NFA earlier set the buying price for clean and dry palay at P28 to P30 per kilo. Meanwhile, farmers can now also procure 500 bags per cropping season from individual growers, up from the previous ceiling of 200 bags per farmer.
Although there were concerns that farmers face high production costs, the NFA said the higher palay buying price can still allow farmers to recover their expenses.
“Opo, totoo po ‘yan, malaki po ang kanilang gastos actually, kaya ang tinatayang production cost umaabot na nga ng P17 pero sumatotal pa rin sa presyo ng NFA, talagang ano naman, makakabawi. Huwag lang masyadong bumagsak ‘yung kanilang production volume eh makakabawi, hindi malulugi at meron pang magandang sobra,” said Lacson.
Moreover, the NFA agreed that its palay procurement program would have a greater direct impact on farmers if it could purchase at least 10% of the country’s total palay harvest, ideally reaching 10% to 20%.
But the agency also argued that the higher buying price still influences the broader market.
“Sa isang banda tama ‘yun kasi kung ang nabibili namin 5 (porsyento) pababa lang, sasabihin natin hindi masyadong makakaimpluwensya sa presyo sa merkado at saka ilan lang ‘yun, 3%-5% lang ng magsasaka ang nakinabang,” said Lacson.
“Pero ako, kung ako tatanungin mo, ang NFA tatanungin ninyo, ay gusto namin makuha namin at least 10% hanggang 20% sana para talaga namang tuwang-tuwa ang ating magsasaka,” he added. (GMA News)
