Monday, July 21, 2008 Enough rice for CV, NFA assures
AS FAR as the National Food Authority (NFA) is concerned, Visayans need not fret about less rice or higher price.
This was the assurance NFA region 7 spokesman Edgar Diez issued during last Friday’s Tapok-Tapok sa Kia.
An estimated 3.5 million vats of rice are coming for the Central Visayas, Diez said, and this is enough to last the region the whole year.
He said that even if July is normally a “lean month” for rice supply, rice prices have steadied.
Upper bracket
The average price of rice is now at P25 per kilogram, with the cheapest kind selling at P18.25 for every kilogram. Rice for the upper bracket sells at P35 per kilogram.
But he said the NFA cannot really control the rice prices; it can only “inject supply to stabilize the price.”
Lean months
Last Friday, Diez said the present rice supply is good for 62 more days, which will take the region through the end of the lean months.
By the last week of September, harvest will start again.
However, Diez said he could not give the same assurance of stability for 2009. He said this will depend on the outcome of the harvest by November this year.
Diez said that for the 40 NFA rice outlets that Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmena had recommended, the NFA had already approved seven, including two in Mambaling and two in Lapu-Lapu city.
He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has to evaluate each proposed recipient if it really is a “depressed area.”
Retail outlets
He said, however, that because of the abundant supply of NFA rice, local retail outlets can have bigger allocations.
Diaz said NFA is still verifying complaints that its rice in local government unit (LGU) outlets does not reach the constituents.
Each LGU rice outlet is intended for 250 beneficiaries. In Central Visayas, qualified beneficiaries of NFA rice are those families earning P4,170 a month or P139 a day.
He also denied the occurrence of rice hoarding, at least in Central Visayas, this year. (KAB)
