THE National Food Authority (NFA) said it built up reserves equivalent to nine days’ consumption — 7.17 million 50-kilogram bags of milled rice, the highest inventory level since the end of 2020.
The NFA said farmers were encouraged to sell by the agency’s palay (unmilled rice) buying price that averaged P27 a kilo last year and around P24 this year.
The NFA said it still has ample funds to procure around 500,000 metric tons (MT) of palay — equivalent to approximately 6.3 million bags of milled rice.
“So far this year, we’ve spent only P2.6 billion of the P14.6 billion available to us for palay procurement. This includes unspent funds of P5.6 billion carried over from the 2024 budget,” NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said.
The NFA said it is upgrading its storage infrastructure, including warehouses and handling facilities to accommodate a higher stockpile of 555,000 MT of rice, or 880,000 metrics tons of palay.
Under the revised Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA is tasked with maintaining 15 days of reserves — up from the previous nine-day requirement. All stocks in this reserve are required to be sourced from farmers.
The NFA said when the law was first implemented in 2019, it held reserves equivalent to just over 492,000 MT, much of it composed of imported rice.
Since 2019, the NFA has not been allowed to sell rice directly to the public.
The grains agency said its current mandate limits public sales to “aging stocks” or milled rice that has been stored for at least two months since processing.
The NFA is set to auction its older stock, citing low takeup from local government units (LGUs), which were being counted on to help sell rice released onto the market after the Department of Agriculture (DA) declared a rice food security emergency on Feb. 3.
The declaration allowed the NFA to release stocks to government agencies, LGUs, and government-backed markets.
However, Mr. Lacson said earlier this month the volume of rice the NFA had released since the emergency declaration was only 20,000 bags — well below the monthly target of 500,000 bags.
Rice imports fell 46% year on year to 641,000 MT in the year to date ending March 13. The US Department of Agriculture reported in March that Philippine rice imports will likely decline 1.9% this year due to an expected increase in domestic production.
The farmgate price of palay continues to decline, with the government estimating that it fell 24.4% year on year in March to an average of P18.57 per kilogram.
As of April 11, the NFA held 1.1 million bags of milled rice, including ageing stock.
Reserves are typically used to support vulnerable communities, potentially at prices even lower than the P29-per-kilo subsidized rice sold in government-run programs, the NFA said, citing Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr.
He said the DA is exploring “ways to better manage the NFA’s ageing rice stocks.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza