CABANATUAN CITY – One for Ripley’s – No rice in the country’s rice granary.
With barely 8,700 bags in its warehouse, the National Food Authority (NFA) in Nueva Ecija has stopped supply to accredited rice retailers since January, a ranking grains official said.
Genoveva Villae, NFA provincial manager, said they have actually reduced distribution from 20 bags a week to only seven bags per week per retailer in December due to diminishing inventory.
“Ang priority na natin ay para sa panahon ng kalamidad,” Villar said.
She was quick to add, though, that rice inventory in private traders and households can last for at least 240 days or until the forthcoming harvest season.
A monitoring on the current prices, she added, showed no drastic increase in commercial rice but only the absence of cheaper grains.
At the moment, she said, it is totally zero arrival of palay grains in their warehouses supposedly because of attractive buying price of P19 a kilo farm gate and stop in importation.
