NFA eyes selling rice stocks to other govt agencies

The National Food Authority is thinking of selling their rice stock to other government agencies to help ease the "overflow" of the staple’s supply. Administrator Lito Banayo said the NFA might link up with the Metro Manila Development Authority for the proposed "Food for Work" program, which aims to give "emergency employment" under the MMDA’s cleanup drive in exchange for rice. Under the proposal, the NFA will sell to MMDA its rice stocks, which in turn will be used to pay the workers taking part in MMDA's clean-up drives. "We're exploring that kasi gusto na namin i-dispatsa ang bigas namin ng maramihan," Banayo told radio dzBB in an interview Friday. (We're exploring that because we really want to get rid of our excess rice stock.) He assured the public that NFA's rice stock "still has high quality" even if it has been in warehouses for a long time. "Awa ng Diyos hindi pa nabulok [Thanks God, they haven't rotten yet]," said Banayo, noting that government subsidized rice is at par with commercial stock in terms of quality. He appealed to the public not to look down on NFA rice. "Napako na kami sa ganyang image (The public has this mistaken notion that NFA rice has low quality). I want to change this image," he said. 'Socialized' and 'non-socialized' In addition, Banayo said he would be meeting with officials from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the plan to have two "ceiling prices" for NFA rice: "socialized" and "non-socialized." "But these two prices are still lower than commercial prices," said Banayo. At the height of the rice crisis in 2008, the Department of Social Welfare and Development spearheaded the government's family-access-cards program, giving to disadvantaged families first priority in accessing NFA’s low-priced rice. After President Benigno Aquino III pointed out in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the government may have over-imported bags of rice that are rotting in warehouses even as millions of Filipinos go hungry, the NFA started an audit of its systems. Subsidized NFA rice for poor families is sold at P25/kilo. In "poorest areas," it is sold at P18.25/kilo. Banayo earlier confirmed that NFA warehouses indeed were "overflowing" with rice supply. "Punong puno po kami ng bigas. Naliligo kami sa bigas (We are full of rice. We are swimming in rice)," he said. Sen. Loren Legarda had asked the government to just distribute the excess rice to poor families. But Banayo objected, saying he would allow the distribution of the staple to poor people without them "working hard for it." No space for rice The NFA warehouses can no longer accommodate added supply, thus it has asked Vietnamese trader Vina Foods to defer delivery of rice imports. "Mayroon pa sa Vietnam na hindi pa nakakarating dito at hinihiling ko na i-delay pa hanggang September 30," Banayo said. Some 75,000 to 80,000 metric tons of government-ordered rice have not yet been shipped to the Philippines from Vietnam. The previous administration had arranged for the importation 2.4 million metric tons of rice for 2010. "Ang problema talaga wala tayong paglalagyan [We have no place to keep them]," he said. Banayo also allayed fears that letting rice imports come in this September – around the time the harvesting period starts in the Philippines – would hurt local farmers since they would be competing with imported stocks. He said he saw no probem in "flooding" the rice market because even the private sector imports rice beyond what it currently needs. Banayo said that the effects of the El Niño phenomenon that hit the country several months back, had created a backlash on the farming sector. He said taking in imports around the time of harvesting could help ease the ill-effects from El Niño. He said irrigation systems in over 1.2 million hectares of farmlands were also badly hurt by the El Niño phenomenon "Kaya expected na bababa rin ng production. Hindi ko lang alam ang figures... Pero mag-i-even out din naman yan kapag anihan na," he said, adding that harvetsing period usually peaks in November. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV