No rice stocks have been released from National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses since the declaration of a food security emergency earlier this week, NFA Larry Lacson said.
Lacson, in a radio interview, said: “As of now, we haven’t received any reports of NFA rice being released since the declaration.”
On Monday, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. declared a food security emergency concerning rice, following recommendations from the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC). This move was prompted by persistently high rice prices, despite reduced production costs and lower tariffs on imported rice.
The declaration allows the NFA to distribute its buffer stocks to the public in order to help bring down retail prices.
These stocks will be made available through Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) and sold at P35 per kilo, one of the lowest prices, as the government works to reduce rice prices to the levels seen before the price surge in June and July 2023.
“Currently, there are over 730,000 sacks of milled rice nationwide that are ready for release,” Lacson said.
The NFA administrator also mentioned that the agency is coordinating with local government units (LGUs) and the FTI to facilitate the distribution of rice buffer stocks.
“There may be some processes that the LGUs are still ironing out, which is why there’s a delay in purchasing rice from the NFA,” he added.
