The National Food Authority (NFA) started procuring palay at higher prices yesterday to beef up supply and boost local buffer stocks.
The NFA Council recently raised the grains corporation’s buying price for fresh or wet palay to a range of P17 and P23 per kilogram (kg) and clean and dry to P23 and P30 per kg.
The previous buying prices were a range of P16 to P19 per kg for fresh or wet and P19 to P23 per kg for clean and dry.
The NFA Council had to raise buying prices for palay after prolonged high farm gate prices persists.
“This new pricing scheme will mark a new era for NFA palay buying… This is unique in a sense that different provinces will have different prices depending on the conditions in the province such as prevailing farm gate price, remaining harvest and most importantly the target palay procurement for the area,” said Larry Lacson, NFA actin administrator, in a statement.
Lacson added the NFA abandoned a single pricing system to take into account the support price provided by some local government units to help improve farmers’ income by being a viable alternative to private traders.
The Rice Tariffication Law stripped the NFA of its rice trading responsibilities and limited it to buffer stocking to ensure rice supply in case of disasters and calamities.
The agency is required to maintain a stock of at least 300,000 tons of rice which is enough for nine days consumption.
