MALOLOS CITY—Not a bag of imported rice in National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses in Bulacan was rotten, said Serafin Manalili, manager of NFA-Bulacan.
However, he admitted that they have to dispose sacks of rice in six months since their warehouses are not equipped to keep inventories longer.
Manalili added that the province will have enough rice supply until the first quarter of next year when imported rice will start coming in.
He said that rice stocks have shelf life of six months to one year. “It’s impossible, because we were able to dispose our inventories within the allocated period of time.”
“Our warehouses and the warehouses that we rent are not equipped to maintain certain temperature, so we have to dispose our older inventories first,” he said noting that it is within the six month period.
Manalili also said that modern warehouses are equipped with large airconditioning machines, but it will jack up the price of rice if they try to do the same.
Rice inventories of the NFA are usually sold in some 500 NFA-accredited stores in different parts of the province.
At present, Manalili said that Bulacan have 1.076-million sacks of rice which can last until the first quarter of next year.
About 220,000 sacks of the said inventories were procured locally while more than 700,000 bags were imported by the NFA national office from Thailand and Vietnam.
Manalili stressed that current rice of inventory of Bulacan meant that the province’s 3.2-million population will have enough rice until next year as per capita daily consumption is only 250 grams of rice per person per day.
Eduardo Camua, another NFA-Bulacan official, said that NFA’s local procurement has started gaining momentum in 2008 when the country faced rice shortage.
He noted that one of the reason for NFA’s high procurement was due to the higher price their offered to farmers compared to price offered by commercial traders.
Camua said that NFA is paying P17 per kilo of palay while commercial traders are offering lower price than that.
However, he admitted that they have to dispose sacks of rice in six months since their warehouses are not equipped to keep inventories longer.
Manalili added that the province will have enough rice supply until the first quarter of next year when imported rice will start coming in.
He said that rice stocks have shelf life of six months to one year. “It’s impossible, because we were able to dispose our inventories within the allocated period of time.”
“Our warehouses and the warehouses that we rent are not equipped to maintain certain temperature, so we have to dispose our older inventories first,” he said noting that it is within the six month period.
Manalili also said that modern warehouses are equipped with large airconditioning machines, but it will jack up the price of rice if they try to do the same.
Rice inventories of the NFA are usually sold in some 500 NFA-accredited stores in different parts of the province.
At present, Manalili said that Bulacan have 1.076-million sacks of rice which can last until the first quarter of next year.
About 220,000 sacks of the said inventories were procured locally while more than 700,000 bags were imported by the NFA national office from Thailand and Vietnam.
Manalili stressed that current rice of inventory of Bulacan meant that the province’s 3.2-million population will have enough rice until next year as per capita daily consumption is only 250 grams of rice per person per day.
Eduardo Camua, another NFA-Bulacan official, said that NFA’s local procurement has started gaining momentum in 2008 when the country faced rice shortage.
He noted that one of the reason for NFA’s high procurement was due to the higher price their offered to farmers compared to price offered by commercial traders.
Camua said that NFA is paying P17 per kilo of palay while commercial traders are offering lower price than that.
