P3-B budget sought for emergency procurement of palay - NFA

Metro Manila, Philippines - Agriculture officials are requesting a P3 billion budget for the National Food Authority’s (NFA) emergency procurement of palay amid depressed prices of the grain.

The budget will be contained in an executive order (EO) expected to be issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said in a news conference on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Lacson said the EO must be released “in the soonest possible time.”

“Mag-i-issue sila ng EO anytime na magbibigay sa amin ng additional na pondo para magrenta ng private warehouses under the emergency procurement para madagdagan ‘yong warehouses na pwedeng pag-imbakan,” he said.

[Translation: An EO will be issued anytime to provide us additional funds to rent private warehouses under the emergency procurement to give us more storage.]

According to Lacson, the budget request is eyed for P1 billion for rent expenses and other operational costs, while the remaining P2 billion may be for palay procurement.

The NFA chief said regional offices are already scanning their areas for available private warehouses.

He said the NFA is set to auction aging stocks to free up its warehouses.

Buying storm-damaged palay

Lacson also said that the NFA is looking to buy storm-damaged palay from targeted areas, expected to be covered by the EO. But he said it is at a lower buying price, possibly P2 to P3 less than its regular rate.

The NFA is currently buying wet palay at P17 per kilogram and P23 per kilogram for dry palay.

“We would still prefer ‘yong dried na kasi wala nga kaming pagtutuyuan,” Lacson said.

[Translation: We would still prefer dried palay as we also lack drying facilities.]

“We would like to really help our farmers in distress right now… We will not buy at a single-digit price per kilo, definitely not,” he assured.

The country has incurred at least P1.95 billion worth of agricultural damage in the aftermath of three consecutive storms “Mirasol,” “Nando,” and “Opong,” the Department of Agriculture reported.

Depressed farmgate prices of palay in some areas have prompted the Marcos administration to extend the rice import suspension for at least 30 days. 

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said there were reports of farmgate prices of palay plummeting to P6 to P8 a kilo amid back-to-back tropical cyclones.