NFA Regional Director Henry Tristeza said the allocation will be coming from the 250,000 MT of rice purchased through government-to-government scheme. The 12,000 MT of rice is equivalent to 240,000 bags.
“The new shipment will ensure us enough rice supply for at least
six days if NFA will be the only source of staple food. That is not the case
because we have enough stocks from commercial traders and households,” Tristeza
said on Friday.
The volume is only a small fraction of the 60-day buffer stocks
target as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The incoming stocks is expected to bring down the price of
commercial rice in the market with the availability of NFA rice at only PHP27
and PHP32 per kilogram (kg), said Tristeza.
The NFA regional chief admitted the absence of NFA rice in the
market contributed to the increase in the price of commercial rice in the
region from an average of PHP40 per kg to PHP45 per kg.
For Rebecca Sulibaga, 44, from Lunang village in the island town
of Almagro, Samar, the higher prices of rice makes life difficult for their
family of six supported by her husband’s PHP300 daily income from fishing.
“Now that rice is expensive, we have no choice, but to cut our
budget for other food items, education, and fare. Another option is to borrow
money from our friends and relatives,” Sulibaga said.
Pedicab driver Raul Piga, 35, from Youngfield village in this city
said their hand-to-mouth existence has worsened as prices of basic food items
such as rice went up.
“A big chunk of our budget goes to buying rice. Most of the time,
our side dish is just lawlaw,” Piga said. Lawlaw is
a kind of tiny sardine buried and preserved in salt, commonly eaten by impoverished
families who have no other alternative to enhance the taste of
rice.
The NFA has stopped selling rice in the six Eastern Visayas
provinces last February due to dwindling stocks.
For the second batch of 250,000 MT of imported rice which was bid
out through government-to-private (G2P) scheme this week, will bring another
12,000 mt of rice to the region. NFA will announce winning bidder before end of
May.
The government attempted to replenish stocks through the import of
250,000 MT but bidding failed in the last week of April. The country reopened
offers from the governments of Vietnam and Thailand early of May.
The NFA is sticking to its target of having the rice imports in
the country within June. (SQM/With
reports from Princess Rosette Cabonegro and Chanda Mae Dialino, OJTs/PNA)
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