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NFA-La Union Assures Public Gov’t in Control of Rice Supply
The National Food Authority (NFA) in La Union announced Wednesday that the government will not allow any Filipino to get hungry despite lack of rice stocks.
According to Engr. Fortunato Bulao, provincial manager of NFA-La Union, there are only 692,453 bags available and an expected production of 115,375 bags in the province.
Data is as of February 18, 2018. But with the existing daily rice consumption of 5, 800 bags or a monthly consumption of 162,400 bags, the available stocks are only expected to last for less than four months or until May this year.
There are also some 8,000 bags available at NFA-La Union warehouses, 2,000 bags of which are allotted for emergency relief operations, thus the government will likely resort to rice importation.
“We are anticipating that the importation of rice will come just in time before the lean months,” Bulao said.
He, however, assures the general public “the government is on top of everything” and “President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will not allow anyone to get hungry.”
A total of 250,000 metric tons or 400,000 bags of imported rice allocation for Region 1 are expected by June wherein only 75,00 will be allocated for the province of La Union.
Bulao also assures the public that there are no existing rice cartel and rice hoarding in the province.
Average price of NFA rice is at P32 pesos while average commercial rice is priced at P43.50. Buying price for palay is at P17.70 per kilo.
