By Junex Doronio
MANILA — In its bid to make it competitive for local farmers, the National Food Authority (NFA) Council is set to meet on Thursday (11 April 2024) to discuss the possibility of adjusting its buying price of palay.
This developed as the NFA has failed to meet its palay procurement target for the month of February.
“Nevertheless, the National Food Authority shall continue to provide the best service to farmers and farmers organizations, to entice them to sell their produce to NFA,” the agency said in its statement.
NFA officer-in-charge Administrator Larry Lacson admitted that the agency is facing difficulties in procuring palay during the harvest, noting that traders are outbidding them by buying the grain at higher prices than it offers.
He pointed out that based on the NFA’s monitoring, traders buy palay at P25 to P27 per kilo while it only buys palay at a maximum of P23 per kilo.
In its February 2024 accomplishment report, the NFA reported that it procured 12,378 bags of palay, or the equivalent to 618.9 metric tons (MT) of the grain, during the month.
This was a measly 2.28% of the agency’s target of 542,800 bags or 27,140 MT of palay for the period.
“Decrease in procurement is due to lesser palay harvest, since February is not a harvest season hence the procured palay is just a spill over of the last cropping season,” the NFA explained in its report.
(el Amigo/MNM)
