NFA: Region 2 rice stock enough till next cropping season

SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela – Amid fears of rice supply shortage due to the long dry spell, the National Food Authority in Cagayan Valley assured that Region II’s rice grain stock is enough to last until the next planting season. NFA regional director Ruben Reside made the assurance on Thursday after the announcement of the agency’s administrator Jessup P. Navarro citing that the country’s rice inventory stands at 20 million bags, which is sufficient for 28 days – almost double the mandatory 15 days food security buffer stock. Reside told GMANews.TV that Region II’s latest inventory showed that households have a total of 764,000 bags of rice in stock, while commercial warehouses across the region reported a current stock of 2.3 million bags. Regional NFA’s inventory, on the other hand, stands at 530,000 bags making a total of 2.4 million bags of rice available in the region. On top of the present inventory, Reside reported that some 2.4 million metric tons of imported rice are currently being unloaded at Subic port in Olongapo City as additional buffer stock for the country’s rice requirement. One million bags from the present delivery are headed for Region II. "At a daily aggregate consumption of 35,757 bags of rice, our (rice) stock plus the expected delivery of 1 million bags is enough to last us for the whole year," Reside said. The NFA expects rain to fall when planting season commences in June, but farmers in areas hardest hit by the El Niño phenomenon (especially Isabela and Cagayan provinces) fear that the weather disturbance’s current pattern may not bring rains during the scheduled planting season. In an earlier interview, rice trader and former mayor Randy Ting of Tuguegarao, Cagayan told GMANews.TV that if the drought extends beyond June, there could be a deficit in rice and corn production that may result in a crisis. His concern was echoed by Cagayan Governor Alvaro Antonio who said that a crisis is imminent since the province which is a top producer of rice and corn, has been declared under a state of calamity. It supplies most of the rice needs of other regions including Regions 1, 3, 4a, 4b and Metro Manila. In Nueva Vizcaya, NFA said that their warehouse stores some 27,000 bags of combined local and imported rice. A Philippine Information Agency report said NFA’s provincial office have increased their Procurement Inventory System (PIS) from 70,000 to 85,000 bags of rice to be available to consumers once a shortage of rice supply will be felt in the province. NFA provincial manager Leslie Martinez said: "We made the adjustment after coordinating with the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) and projected sufficient additional rice supply." Martinez added that the rice supply allotment for the provinces of Ifugao, Mountain Province and Nueva Vizcaya stands at 350,000 bags – enough to supply the needs of consumers despite the dry spell. - Floro Taguinod/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV