Private sector might find import volume 'too big' — NFA official

An official of the National Food Authority (NFA) has expressed concern that the private sector might prove incapable of bringing in the entire import volume allocated for them for the lean months of 2011. Refusing to be named, a ranking NFA official over the weekend said the private sector allocation of 600,000 metric tons (MT) or rice, meant to ease the burden of the debt-ridden agency, might be “too big for the private sector to import." Highlighting the importance of the first tender for the import volume on Wednesday, the official noted that that the government has set a deadline to finalize the importation arrangements before the month ends. He then brought up the possibility of the NFA taking up the import volume that the private sector will beg off from bringing in. “The agency should absorb the leftover volume should there be any," said the source, recalling that the private sector brought in only half the 224,000 MT of rice that the NFA allocated for them in 2010. To fill the country’s need for the staple, the NFA has proposed to import 860,000 MT of rice for 2011, with the government bringing in around 200,000 MT through a government-to-government arrangement possibly with Vietnam. Do not depend on private traders Lita Mariano, spokesperson of the rice watchdog Bantay Bigas, criticized the government for “entrusting" the country’s food security to the private sector, the primary concern of which is jacking up profits. Reiterating her group’s stand to fortify local rice production instead, Mariano added, “Huwag tayong maging palaasa sa importasyon ng bigas (Let us not grow dependent on the importation of rice)." She also said that the private sector’s reluctance to import rice will force the NFA into borrowing funds anew, amid a P177-billion debt and a 69-percent budget cut. The NFA has meanwhile undergone a series of reforms, including a decision to bid out rice import allocations, which places a cap of 20,000 MT on rice import volumes. The agency expects rice shipments to arrive on or before June 30, or 60 days after issuing the invitation to bid. The private sector allocation forms part of the decreased import volume that the government has set for 2011, amid the Aquino administration’s projections of a “robust harvest" this year. Suspicions of corruption have hounded the private sector’s importation of rice, with no less than the President raising the alarm in January that only one group or person seemed to corner the NFA import allocations. — with reporting by Paterno Esmaquel II/JE, GMA News