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Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar on Wednesday floated the concept of reinstating the industrial features of the Nationwide Meals Authority (NFA), notably the sale of rice to the poor.
Dar stated the Division of Agriculture (DA) is at the moment mapping out methods that may permit the NFA to take part anew within the home rice market. The NFA’s market intervention powers had been stripped away by the rice commerce liberalization (RTL) regulation which was enacted in 2019.
He stated promoting rice at P30 per kilogram entails two issues: permitting the NFA to promote rice once more and quadrupling the meals company’s finances to P30 billion yearly.
The next finances would permit the NFA to beef up its buffer inventory and keep at the least 30 days’ price of every day nationwide consumption, Dar added. At current, NFA’s annual finances is just P7 billion, sufficient for the procurement of about 5 to 10 days’ price of rice buffer inventory.
This stock stage, Dar stated, would permit the meals company to have a considerable market share by its roll-over scheme whereby it buys palay from farmers at a “favorable value” then sells it at under the prevailing market value.
Contemplating the NFA’s present shopping for value of P19 per kilogram, the meals company can enhance the worth of milled rice by P3 per kg to P30 per kg from the earlier P27 per kg, previous to the enactment of the RTL regulation.
“I wish to additionally point out that the rice that NFA will promote to the market is for the poorest of the poor, not for everybody, so we are going to actually give extra assist to the poorest of the poor,” he stated in a webinar organized by the Financial Journalists Affiliation of the Philippines on Wednesday.
“As for decreasing rice costs, that is simply my view, we’re nonetheless engaged on the map.”
Dar issued the assertion after he was requested by reporters on this relating to the marketing campaign promise of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., presumptive winner of the 2022 presidential elections, to carry down the worth of rice to P20 to P30 per kg.
The DA chief, nevertheless, maintained that Marcos was referring to the shopping for value of unmilled rice, which is at the moment at P19 per kg, and never the worth of milled rice.
“I surmise that what has been talked about as P20 per kg is presumably for palay. The farmgate value presently is P19 per kilogram. So I’m supporting that concept to make it P20 per kg to extend the earnings of our farmers,” he stated.
Reinstating the industrial features of NFA would entail the modification of Republic Act 11203 or the RTL regulation, which liberalized the rice business and deregulated the state-run meals company.
Dar additionally disclosed that the federal government would urge the native governments of the highest 20 rice-producing provinces to purchase palay and promote rice to extend the nation’s buffer inventory. The NFA pegged the nation’s every day rice consumption at 33,500 metric tons.
“After these elections, we’re having a dialogue with the highest 20 rice-producing provinces for them to have interaction in rice enterprise: procure palay as guided by the farmgate value and roll it over to promote out there,” he stated.
“We’re aiming to have extra 30-day buffer inventory coming from the engagement from the LGUs.”
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