PH rice supply sufficient for rainy season; buffer stock up – NFA
National Food Authority Administrator Larry Lacson (rightmost) (Photo from the Facebook account of the NFA)
San Ildefonso, Bulacan—National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Larry Lacson said on Wednesday that there is an adequate supply of rice for the upcoming rainy season.
He made the statement in a media interview before the inspection of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of an NFA warehouse in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.
“Our rice supply is increasing. Right now, it is at 414,000 metric tons, good for 11 days. Even if we roll out the “Benteng Bigas Meron Na” (P20 rice, it’s available), our buffer stock is still increasing,” he said.
Lacson explained that this situation has been made possible because the NFA is continuously buying rice from local farmers.
The NFA official expressed hope that the country will achieve 100 percent rice sufficiency and veer away from importation.
The Philippines’ stock of rice is only 20 percent of what its people need.
“I like that the concentration of the NFA is just on farmers. All of NFA stocks come from farmers,” the administrator said.
In April, the Department of Agriculture expressed the intention to lessen rice importation due to improved local production, favorable weather, and higher carry-over stocks.
Rice imports reached their peak of 4.8 million metric tons last year, surpassing the previous record high of 3.8 million metric tons in 2022.
These figures are based on the data from the Bureau of Plant Industry./apl/abc
