By Alladin S. Diega | Correspondent
The National Food Authority’s (NFA) purchase of additional rice from abroad could cause the farm-gate price of locally grown palay to go down, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Monday.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Edilberto de Luna said “corrective measures” should be rolled out by the NFA as the decision to import an additional 250,000 metric tons (MT) of rice could have depress farm-gate prices during the harvest season in September.
“[Possible decline in farm-gate prices] is our reservation when we agreed to import 500,000 MT of rice. If farm-gate prices drops below P17 per kilogram, the NFA should move to stabilize the price of rice to ensure food security,” de Luna said.
Currently, the NFA buys palay produced by farmers at P17 per kilo depending on moisture content. The agency also gives out incentives which include P0.20/kilo delivery incentive, P0.20/kilo drying incentive, and P0.30/kilo Cooperative Incentive Fee.
“At present, the average farm-gate price of palay is P19 per kilo, which is a very good price. Farm-gate prices may be depressed at the start of September, which is the wet cropping season,” de Luna said in an interview.
He said the NFA should be ready to buy 1 million metric tons of palay from farmers to ensure the stability of farm-gate prices.
The NFA imports rice and buys palay from local farmers to ensure the stability of prices and supply of the staple.
The Philippine government raised its buying price for unmilled rice in 2008, when it was confronted with a global rice crisis. This was done to encourage more farmers to plant more palay.
The lack of funds hampered the NFA from buying more palay from farmers in previous years.
1 comment
“The lack of funds hampered the NFA from buying more palay from farmers in previous years.” – but they have fund for importation ??
simply say this
local purchase = local + national nfa employees benefits from commissions
importation= national nfs benefits from commissions
whatever they do it sucks