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NFA wants Congress to retain its P15B budget allotment


The National Food Authority (NFA) is appealing for Congress to block the Budget Department’s proposal to transfer the agency’s 2011 budget allocation of P15 billion to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). “That’s totally unfair. How can the agency survive without centavo to spend? From a P15-billion [budget], we’re now practically down to zero. The Finance, Budget, and Social Services departments are ganging up on us," NFA administrator Angelito Banayo said in a phone interview on Thursday. The food agency intends to appeal its case before Congress next week. Banayo alleged that DSWD is not equipped to handle rice situations, unlike NFA whose mandate is to manage food stocks for the entire nation. “Even palay and corn procurement has been transferred to the DSWD. I pray that that department knows how to manage rice stocks, let alone determine shortages and shortfall," he said. Banayo noted that the Budget Department has been using the proposed conditional cash-transfer scheme to farmers as reason justifying the reallocation of the NFA’s budget to DSWD. Instead of production subsidies, the government will just give dole outs amounting to P1,400 per farmer, said Banayo. Banayo said the reallocation of the NFA’s budget to the DSWD was an orchestrated act “based on a road map" drafted by the departments of Finance, Budget, and Social Welfare Development. 'I can only surmise' “Just this Wednesday, we were supposed to present our own roadmap on how to improve our finances. Instead, the DSWD, Finance, and Budget departments presented their own road map wherein they wanted us to stock a meager 15 days worth of reserve rice at any given time, for reasons I can only surmise," Banayo said. NFA is mandated to take a 30-day position in terms of rice stocks. Rice procurement for 2011 is expected to reach 1.2 million MT. The government targets to buy 612,000 metric tons of palay from this year’s main crop, according to NFA. The agency reported that the country’s rice stock inventory for the month of August stood at 3.18 million MT, 28.4 percent higher than last year’s 2.47 million MT. Compared to last year’s records, stocks in households in August went down by 7.9 percent to 479,600 MT from 670,700 MT, it said. August’s stocks in government depositories — 86 percent of which were imported rice — were higher by 46.3 percent from 1.38 million MT last year, NFA records showed. Stocks in commercial warehouses for August also grew by 32.5 percent to 479,600 MT from last year’s 361,900 MT, it said The August inventory would be enough for 94 days; stocks in government depositories, for 60 days; and in commercial warehouses, for 14 days. Household stocks would last for 20 days. At the height of rice crisis in 2008, the government imported as much as 2.7 million metric tons (MT). Imported rice this year totaled 2.4 million MT, NFA records showed. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV

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