The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will ask the new Congress, which will convene in July, to restore the powers of the National Food Authority (NFA) and allot P18 billion to its palay procurement program for 2026.
Improving the powers of the NFA to intervene and stabilize rice prices in the market would revitalize NFA’s financial and logistical capabilities and help increase rice farmers’ incomes and profits, the DA said in a statement on Tuesday.
For instance, allowing the NFA to sell even its non-aging rice inventory would give the agency greater financial flexibility and free up warehouse space to enable procurement of more palay from farmers at better prices, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. was quoted as saying in the DA statement.
Tiu Laurel added the NFA will seek to double its palay procurement budget to P18 billion for 2026, so it can purchase up to 10 percent of the country’s harvest.
The amount would also enable DA to build up buffer stocks for disaster response and price stabilization, the agriculture secretary said.
“If the NFA is allowed to sell rice stocks promptly, especially through initiatives like President Marcos’ P20-per-kilo rice program, we can re-invest the funds to buy more palay at fairer prices,” he said.
Tiu Laurel, who also chairs the NFA Council, said an enhanced legislative authority, paired with a sustained increase in budget, would eventually allow the NFA to buy up to 30 percent of the national harvest, which would be enough to meaningfully influence farmgate prices and stabilize the market.
The DA said unscrupulous rice traders have taken advantage of the NFA’s weakened mandate to shortchange farmers, sometimes offering to buy palay at prices below production cost.
The department said it will push for the restoration of the regulatory powers of the NFA to help rein in excessive retail prices and protect consumers from market abuse.
Despite the amendment of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) in late 2024, the NFA cannot import rice to boost the government buffer stocks or directly sell to the public.
Prior to the amendment, the original version of the RTL passed in 2018, liberalized the country’s rice sector and limited the NFA’s powers to the maintenance of the country’s national rice buffer stock at 15 days. Under the amended RTL, the NFA can buy only from local sources to provide the staple food during emergencies, calamities or a national food emergency declaration, and can only bid out aging stocks.
