By VANNE TERRAZOLA
The National Food Authority (NFA) has been urged to increase the buying price of rice at P18-kilo so local farmers will be more inclined to sell their harvest, helping address the current shortage in the supply of cheap rice.
This was the mounting appeal during the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food’s investigation on the supply and price of rice yesterday, with everyone involved agreeing the immediate solution to the shortage would be for the NFA to source its supply from local farmers.
At the hearing, Jason Aquino, NFA Administrator, admitted the agency’s current rice stockpile is only good for 1.75 days, decreasing further from the three-day buffer stock they declared last month.
Last January, the NFA announced the supply of cheap rice as depleted, causing alarm all over the country and triggering an increase in rice prices.
Aquino told senators that despite the low supply, they had to continue the distribution of the same to relief agencies, such as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as well as island provinces and municipalities.
Senator Cynthia Villar, committee chairman, chided the NFA for its failure to maintain the required 15-day buffer stock of rice, and for causing panic and confusion among the public when the shortage issue could have been addressed within the agency.
She said the shortage wouldn’t have happened if the agency had fulfilled its mandate to buy unmilled dry rice from local farmers at P17 per kilo.
Aquino, in the agency’s defense, said that while they “did (their) job” and were “aggressive” in procuring needed rice supply, they were having difficulty looking for farmers willing to sell their harvests at the said rate.
Citing data from the last quarter of 2017, Aquino said the average buying price for rice stands at P18.95 per kilogram.
He said he sought the approval of the NFA Council to raise it to P22 per kilogram, but was rejected by its members.
Villar, backing the NFA Council’s decision, said such an increase would result in NFA rice being priced much higher than usual.
The senator is amenable to increasing the buying price to P18 at the very least, but warned that NFA rice would then increase to P30 per kilo, a R3 increase from its current P27-per kilo rate.
Senators Nancy Binay and Grace Poe agreed and asked the NFA Council to consider raising the buying price at P18-kilo at least until the NFA rice supply is stable.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol also supported this, saying the presence of NFA rice in the market will help stabilize rice prices.
Rice traders and millers group SINAG is also okay with R18, although they initially asked for an increase to P20.
In response, National Economic and Development Authority Director for Agriculture Mercedita Sombilla said they will look into the R18-per-kg buying price of palay.
Sombilla, who is NEDA’s representative at the NFA Council, told the Senate panel they have already approved the NFA’s request to allow the importation of rice to address the shortage.
