The National Food Authority (NFA) will raise its minimum buying price for wet palay to P21 per kilo starting in September as part of government efforts to boost farmgate prices for farmers.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., who chairs the NFA Council, announced that the NFA will increase its minimum buying price for unmilled rice to P21 per kilo from P17 per kilo for the wet season harvest.
‘I’ve ordered the NFA to set the minimum buying price for wet palay at P21 per kilo to help address the higher cost of fertilizer and other inputs,’ Tiu Laurel said during the inauguration of a modern grain hub in Dumangas, Iloilo.
Furthermore, he said imported rice would not be allowed to be unloaded at any Iloilo port from mid-September until end-November to prevent imported shipments from coinciding with the peak harvest.
‘That is what I can do to ensure that you would earn a decent return from your hard work,’ Tiu Laurel added.
He said the twin measures would strengthen farmers’ bargaining position by giving the NFA bigger influence over local palay prices while easing competitive pressure from imported rice during the harvest season.
Iloilo, the rice bowl of the Visayas, accounts for about half of Western Visayas’ rice output and over 5 percent of national production.
The NFA opened a P355.4-million postharvest facility in Dumangas, which can process up to 4,800 50-kilo bags of palay daily.
Its expanded storage capacity will allow the grains agency to absorb up to 12 percent of Iloilo’s projected harvest, enough to help stabilize market prices.
Tiu Laurel said two more large processing facilities in Iloilo would be operational by the October harvest, while a smaller processing center in Dumangas would be turned over to a farmers’ cooperative.
The NFA is building 36 modern rice processing facilities nationwide to reduce post-harvest losses, increase farmers’ incomes, and enhance the country’s food security.
Half are expected to be operational during the upcoming wet season harvest, with the remainder coming online before next year’s dry season.