BALANGA City – The National Food Authority provincial office here announced Wednesday that farmers in the province were happy over the increase in the buying price of palay by rice traders.
Adelaida Nuestro, NFA provincial manager, said rice merchants have resulted to aggressive palay buying since the start of harvest last March. “This resulted to a higher price of the grains,” she said.
From the former P15 to P18 per kilogram of palay, rice traders hiked the price to P19 to P22, giving farmers the chance to recover from their losses during previous harvest, Nuestro said. The grains agency still procures palay from farmers at P17 per kilogram with incentives for drying, transportation and cooperatives, NFA provincial information officer Coco Reyes said.
Maribeth Magcaling, NFA provincial operations officer, cited the traders’ goal to replenish their stocks that were depleted because of recent typhoons as one of the reasons for the increase in price. “Their desire to procure more resulted to stiffer competition,” she said.
The good quality of newly- harvested palay this season also contributed to the rice merchants’ willingness to buy palay at a higher price, Magcaling said. Farmer Luz Valencia of Hermosa, Bataan reported she sold 90 bags of palay for P97,000.
Conrado Sebastian, president of Bataan Grains Retailers Association, said his co-farmers in Dinalupihan town were all pleased with the good buying price of palay. “We are encouraged to plant more palay to ensure that more than enough supply of palay and rice will be available in the market,” Sebastian said.
NFA admitted that the increase in the price of palay may result in higher price of rice in the market. “To guard on this, the agency is strictly monitoring and ensuring the availability of NFA rice in all public markets in the province,” Nuestro said.
Three varieties of NFA rice are sold at P27, P28 and P32 per kilogram.
