CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija—The National Food Authority (NFA) believes the rice situation in the country has improved after the influential industry players, the Confederation of Ricemillers Association of the Philippines (Confed), promised to buy the farmers’ palay (unmilled rice) at better prices and at the same time lower the cost of commercial rice.

Most Confed members—the traders in Central Luzon specifically—had stopped buying the farmers’ harvest last week in reaction to  the raids made on their warehouses by agents of the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI) upon the NFA’s request.

The prevailing buying rate of palay now in Central Luzon rose slightly from last week’s P17.50 to P18.50 a kilogram (kg) while the cost of commercial rice went slightly down from last week’s lowest of P32 a kg to P29 a kg.

NFA Central Luzon director Nicolas Crisostomo reported that his office’s procurement as of April 29 reached 7,903 bags of palay.  A total of  2,898 bags of which were sold under the agency’s “farmers’ option to buy back” scheme, which means the cooperative members who sold the palay could buy again their very same palay from NFA once the prices set by private traders get favorable for them.

Some consumers also started buying commercial rice from stores in Nueva Ecija, although the queues for cheap government rice continued.

NFA spokesman Tomas Escarez presumed this was the result of the meeting between Confed and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap last week, during which both parties reached an agreement deemed most favorable to the farmers and the poor consumers.

The House committee on agriculture, led by chair Rep. Abraham Mitra, also met with rice industry leaders and local officials in Nueva Ecija on Monday.

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CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija—The National Food Authority (NFA) believes the rice situation in the country has improved after the influential industry players, the Confederation of Ricemillers Association of the Philippines (Confed), promised to buy the farmers’ palay (unmilled rice) at better prices and at the same time lower the cost of commercial rice.

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