CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Central Luzon director of the National Food Authority (NFA) has ordered his provincial managers in his region to “ensure the visibility and availability of NFA rice in the market at all times”.
“This order means adding non-traditional channels to make the staple as visible and available as can be to end consumers,” Regional Director Amadeo de Guzman said, noting that his order was pursuant to the directive of newly-installed NFA Administrator Arthur Juan.
De Guzman stressed that NFA “is implementing a one-strike policy to unscrupulous traders who sell overpriced NFA rice.” This one-strike policy, he noted, was initiated by Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Secretary Francis Pangilinan.
“Central Luzon rice inventory as of June was 6,805,300 bags, which would last for 96 days based on rice consumption requirement of 71,140 bags per day,” De Guzman noted. NFA rice is presently sold at P27 per kilo for regular milled rice (25 percent broken) and P32 per kilo for well-milled rice (15 percent broken).
