The National Food Authority (NFA) needs an additional P8 billion to raise its current rice buffer stock to 15 days by the next “wet harvest season,” Administrator Larry Lacson said on Tuesday.
Lacson, in a briefing in Malacañang, said the buffer stock stood at 358,000 metric tons as of Tuesday, or about 7.16 million bags, good for 9.36 days.
“When do we reach the 15-day buffer? We’re hoping to reach that before the year ends or … this wet season harvest we can achieve that,” Lacson said.
Lacson expressed hope the 15-day rice buffer target could still be realized despite challeng-es faced by the agency such as budget constraints.
The NFA was given a P9-billion budget for 2025, which is just enough to sustain a nine-day buffer stock throughout 2025, he said, adding, they need the additional P8 billion to pur-chase more palay and raise the rice stock.
“We need around P8 billion to fill up the 15-day buffer stock. But our pricing is flexi-ble and we can raise or lower the prices of palay and we can also buy more palay if the prices are low,” he said.
Lacson, however, said the NFA would only request for the additional budget, if an ac-tual need arose.
“That (additional budget request), we will do when the time comes… But I am think-ing as the administrator of the National Food Authority, if we can unload the existing stocks now, that will generate funds for us to buy more palay,” he said.
Lacson said the NFA buys fresh palay at P17 to P23 per kilo and between P23 and P30 for the clean and dry palay.
He said the NFA has also increased the maximum amount of palay that it could buy from farmers to 70 bags from 50 bags.
For the first quarter of 2025, about 2.2 million bags of palay worth P2.6 billion have already been bought by the agency from the farmers.
Lacson said that as of Tuesday, 36 percent of the NFA warehouses were already full or close to being full and the NFA has been waiting for the local government units (LGUs) that have applied to sell the rice to their constituents, under the current state of food emergency, to start withdrawing the stocks.
Some LGUs are still waiting for clearance or exemption from the Commission on Elec-tions (Comelec) to be able to withdraw and distribute the NFA rice which has been made availa-ble at P20 per kilo and P30 per kilo, he said.
He said about 20,000 bags of NFA rice had already been released to the LGUs.
The NFA has been repairing 136 warehouses and building 36 more to accommodate more palay. Lacson said many of the warehouses that have been undergoing repairs would likely be fixed by the end of the month.
