Gov’t eyes buying 5T bags of rice in Capiz

NFA Capiz palay procurement and drying operation at Dumalag Warehouse. (Photo of  Mary Christie Harion)

ROXAS City – The national government has enough funds to buy palay from farmers, the National Food Authority (NFA) assured.

Palay procurement is a government measure aimed at ensuring and establishing manageable buffer stock, minimizing importation, stabilizing price levels, and assuring adequate and continuous supply.

The NFA-Capiz targets to buy 5,000 bags of palay, according to information officer Mary Christie Hari-on.

The NFA buys clean and dry palay at P17 per kilogram on top of incentives like delivery fee, drying incentive fee and cooperative development incentive fee, among others, Hari-on said.

Its warehouses in Barangay Bolo and in Dumalag and Sigma towns are open to buy the farmers’ palay produce, she said.

“Farmers may go to the NFA-Capiz to get a free Farmer’s Passbook after submitting a photo of them and a representative,” said Hari-on.

Individual farmers should also submit a certification indicating the area planted to palay and the yield per hectare, and whether or not it is irrigated.

The certification could come from either the barangay captain, the Municipal Agriculture Office, the National Irrigation Administration, or the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Farmers’ cooperatives/organizations, on the other hand, may get a Master’s Passbook.

But they must submit first a list of their farmer-members and registration certificates from either the Cooperative Development Authority or the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any registration certificate from concerned government agencies.

Walk-in farmers may deliver to NFA-Capiz up to 200 bags of palay harvest. (PIA/PN)