The National Food Authority (NFA) said the decision to raise the palay buying price has allowed the agency to exponentially increase its palay inventory within a month.
The agency said the move allowed NFA to compete with private traders to build its buffer stock, enabling it to procure an additional 2.41 million 50-kilo bags as of May 15.
Between January 1 and April 15, when buying prices were still low, the NFA has only procured a total 142,244 bags of palay.
Last month, the NFA Council raised the procurement price per kilo of palay to P23 to P30 for clean and dry palay from P19 to P23 while the buying price for fresh and wet increased to P17 to P23 from P16 to P19.
In all, a total 2.5 million bags of palay have been bought between January 1 and May 15, representing 82.76 percent of the 3.08 million target for the period.
“We’re still aiming to hit that target since there are other areas like Bulacan where farmers have not completed their rice harvest,” said Larry Lacson, NFA acting administrator.
NFA said as of May 15, the amount of milled rice has reached 111,720 metric tons which is 14.6 percent higher than in the same period last year.
