NFA to buy from local corn farmers

“The NFA will now be buying corn. We’re going back to the original role of the NFA, which is procuring rice and corn,” Mr. Marcos said in a livestreamed farmers forum in Nueva Ecija.

He added that this would allow more farmers to receive a decent livelihood from their harvest.

“So that farmers will have a decent livelihood, they can feed their families, and send their children to school,” he said.

In a text message to Palace reporter, NFA Administrator Larry R. Lacson said that the agency will pilot the corn buying program next year once it receives the necessary budget.

“There will be a pilot next year once we have a budget. Selected areas first since we haven’t had corn procurement activity for a long time,” Mr. Lacson added.

The NFA is mandated to procure rice and corn from the country’s farmers to ensure adequate supply, however, it has only been purchasing palay or unmilled rice amid surging rice prices.

Mr. Marcos also assured rice farmers that the NFA will not reduce its palay buying price despite the ongoing government effort to lower the retail price of the food staple.

“No matter what price we sell rice at in the market, the NFA’s buying price of rice will not change. We will not lower the buying price,” he added.

He said that the current buying price for unmilled rice stands at P19 to P23 per kilogram for dry palay and P18 per kilo for wet palay.

The President had also implemented the selling of a P20-per-kilo rice for the vulnerable sector, which includes low-income families, senior citizens, solo parents, and persons with disabilities. Rice for the program is sourced from NFA stocks.

The Philippines’ rice stocks rose 14.2% to 2.37 million metric tons, while corn inventory fell 5.6% to 671,100 tons, according to the local statistics agency as of May. — Adrian H. Halili