NFA monitors rice supply in lean season
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 06/25/2009 4:21 PM
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MANILA - The National Food Authority (NFA) said it is continuing tight monitoring of rice distribution activities in major urban centers during the lean season upon order of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a press release, the NFA said that with increased rice demand during the opening of classes and with the supply of commercial rice usually dropping during the lean months, DA Secretary Arthur Yap has instructed NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro to monitor and ensure the availability and visibility of NFA rice in all its outlets.
"I have already instructed NFA field officials to closely monitor the price trend of commercial rice in their respective areas," Navarro said.
"The monitoring should be regularly undertaken and their respective reports should reflect the lowest, modal and highest prices of commercial rice," he said.
Navarro said Palengke Watch teams have already been mobilized to keep track of the supply and prices of the staple in the market and safeguard government rice against unscrupulous traders.
To keep the supply and prices of rice stable during the lean months, Navarro said the NFA will increase its presence in the retail market by intensifying the sale of high-end imported rice with just 15 percent and 5 percent brokens, which will be sold side by side with the commercial grade rice with 25 percent brokens as additional allocation for retailers.
Navarro noted that the current price and supply of rice are stable compared to last year as the private sector is actively participating in rice trading activities including palay milling and rice importation, while the NFA for its part, is averaging daily rice sales of 145,819 bags.
Rice sales in Metro Manila alone, Navarro said, averaged 21,791 bags per day, which comprised the bulk of sales for the National Capital Region. The NFA's rice distribution activities in Cebu, a major corn-consuming area, reached 6,086 bags per day, which accounts for more than half of the rice requirement in the whole of Central Visayas.
The DA foresees a slowdown in palay output growth in the April-June period due to advance planting done late last year by farmers that moved the bulk of harvests to the first three months of the year.
"We are checking if it is going to be 1 percent -2 percent growth. It is something we are studying," Yap said.
"There was a big increase in palay production during the first quarter of 2009 because of continuous rains late last year to early this year that encouraged farmers to plant more. Many farmers also planted because of good palay prices."
Despite this expected slowdown in palay growth, the NFA has assured the public of sufficient stocks during the July-September lean period.
The NFA’s current inventory stands at 1.3 million metric tons, which is good for 35 days, which is higher than the required buffer stock equivalent to 30 days’ supply, during the lean months.
At the same time, Navarro said the NFA will optimize the use of the government’s Tindahan Natin outlets (TNs) to realize the government's thrust of eradicating malnutrition in the country, following instructions from the NFA Council for all these outlets to distribute 100 percent Iron Fortified Rice (IFR).
The Philippine Food Fortification Act of 2000 or Republic Act 8976 addresses micronutrient deficiency in the country by making mandatory the fortification of staples such as rice, flour, rice, refined sugar and cooking oil.
Fortification is the addition of micronutrients deficient in the diet to processed foods or food products.
The concept of TN outlets exclusively selling IFR was piloted in Misamis Occidental and the provinces under the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The concept will now be implemented nationwide following orders from the NFA Council, the agency’s policymaking body.
IFR is also being distributed to pre-school and elementary grade pupils under the Food-for-School Program (FSP), a tie-up between the NFA and the Department of Education (NFA-DepEd) and between the NFA and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (NFA-DSWD).
Among the beneficiaries of the program are those provinces classified as food-poor with high prevalence of malnutrition.
The NFA has so far issued a total of 5.5 million bags of IFR amounting to P5.5 billion for the FSP from the time this program started in November 2004 up to March this year.
TN outlets sell IFR at a subsidized price of P18.25 per kilo exclusively for families with Family Access Cards issued by the DSWD in the NCR and those listed in the TN Rice Allocation Ledger in the provinces.
As of June 15, a total of 6,014,333 bags of rice worth P 4.9 billion were issued by NFA to the TN outlets.
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