Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

NFA Palay Buying/Rice
Distribution In 2008

National Food Authority (NFA) admi-nistrator Jessup P. Navarro said, "the NFA performed well last year both in domestic palay procure-ment and rice distribution that benefited its major stakeholders particularly palay farmers and consu-mers notably the poor."

At the average price of P850 per cavan of palay plus fertilizer incentive of P1,800 per 50 kg for an effective price of P886 per bag, the NFA has paid the farmers nationwide the amount of about P12 billion which the government has ploughed back to the agricultural sector to help spur the economy.

According to Navarro, as of the end 2008, the volume of rice distributed by the food agency reached 39.8 million bags or 87 percent of the 45 million bags targeted in 2008.

On domestic palay procurement, Navarro reported that the NFA was able to buy some 13 million bags of palay in 2008, the second highest recorded in the last 29 years. "The timely infusion of NFA rice in the market particularly in the first half of the year gave consumers more access to the basic staple. It stabilized the price of rice averting an otherwise uncontrolled rice price spiral", stressed Navarro.

"The quantity of NFA rice distributed last year manifested the consumers’ growing preference for the good quality but low-priced government rice. The volume of sales of NFA rice remains high even when commercial rice prices have already stabilized and new harvests started coming in particularly during the last part of 2008," Navarro added.

NFA rice is available in strategic outlets nationwide including the 13,383 Tindahan Natin, 3,812 institutionalized Bigasan sa Palengke, 196 Tindahan ni Gloria rolling stores and at community based outlets such as the 1,554 local government operated Bigasan sa Barangay, the 1,292 Bigasan sa Parokya, 243 Bagsakan sa Barangay and the 1,212 accredited and licensed rice retailers. NFA rice is being sold at P25, P30 and P35 per kg.

Navarro informed that families in the National Capital Region that were issued with Family Access Card by the Department of Social Welfare and Development can still buy the highly subsidized P18.25 per kg at the TN and Bigasan sa Parokya outlets. In the provinces, the affordable NFA rice is being sold to consumers included in the Rice Allocation Ledger at the TN outlets.

With its active procurement and a higher support price of P17 per kilogram for palay, the NFA was able to provide farmers with better income and improved its grains inventory at the start of the New Year. NFA’s rice inventory to date is placed at 18.5 million bags.

P70 B Tax Subsidy

Administrator Navarro claimed NFA has paid P12 billion to Filipino farmers for their palay. However, he did not report how much tax subsidy for its rice import was paid by Filipinos to Vietnamese and Thai farmers for rice imported in 2008. P12 billion is ‘peanut’ compared to the P70 billion import tax subsidy granted to NFA.

Farmers from Numan-cia who brought truckload of palay to NFA Banga went home and failed to sell their palay to NFA for reason of "no cash". They were obliged to sell their palay to private rice trader. In November 2008, NFA committed to collect and buy palay at an agreed place and time in Numancia. The farmers were frustrated. The NFA representative did not show up.

The present national government is not only so stingy in the provision of assistance to farmers, it even stole the money budgeted for production assistance like the Joc Joc Bolante P728million fertilizer fund scam.

If the government will only provide 100 percent water to the paddy fields of the farmers, rice importation will be the thing of the past.

Construct More Irrigation System

Of the Philippines area devoted for rice production, about 45 percent are irrigated. In Aklan for instance, only about 35 percent of the area planted to palay is irrigated. If the government will provide irrigation system to all riceland, the present palay production will be doubled per unit area. Palay is a hydrophonic plant which consumes more water in order to produce more grains. Statistics show, 5,000 kg. of water is needed to produce 1 kg. of palay. /MP