ROXAS City – The National Food Authority (NFA) here surpassed its palay procurement target of over 1,400-percent, NFA-Capiz information officer Mary Christie Hari-on said.
“We were able to buy a total of 56,233 bags of clean and dry palay from local farmers last September, which was way above the 4,000 bags target for procurement of the month,” she added.
Hari-on said as of Sept. 30, NFA-Capiz now has a total of 80,751 bags of palay in its warehouses.
For October, on the peak of the harvest season, the food agency targets to buy 90,000 bags of clean and dry palay for P19 per kilogram with 14-percent moisture content and 95 to 100-percent purity.
Meanwhile, NFA-Capiz officer-in-charge Herrielle Jumagbas urged farmers to sell their palay to the food agency noting the gate price of the farm produce only ranges from P10 to P12 per kilogram.
“It would be better for NFA to buy more than its target as President Rodrigo Duterte orders the food agency to buy palay from rice farmers,” Jumagbas said, adding that the new mandate is in preparation for unforeseen calamities and emergencies.
She added their warehouses in Bolo, Roxas City, Sta. Cruz in Dumalag, Capiz and Mangoso in Sigma town are the agency’s buying stations in the province.
Jumagbas said should there be a request, they are also willing to deploy their mobile procurement team.(With a report from PIA-Capiz/PN)
