The National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Oriental assured Sept. 13 that it has enough rice buffer stocks for the province in case of emergency or disasters.
Emily Diputado, NFA-Negros Oriental OIC branch manager, said that the special rollout for the P20 per kg. rice program has not affected the province’s buffer stocks.
“Currently, we have 10,000 bags (of rice) and that alone is good for seven days,” she said.
She noted that they have a buffer arriving from Cebu, although she did not specify the number of bags.
Diputado said there is no need to worry about depleting buffer stocks as they can readily procure rice from adjacent provinces or areas.
The current buffer stock is stored at the NFA’s warehouse in Barangay Pulantubig, Dumaguete, but there are plans to transport the staple to the newly-renovated warehouse in Guihulngan City.
The provincial NFA issued 150 bags of rice for the special rollout Saturday during the “Handog ng Pangulo: Serbisyong Sapat para sa Lahat” at the Negros Oriental State University gymnasium in Dumaguete.
The rice was sourced from local farmers from Canlaon City, Ayungon, Bayawan City, and other parts of Negros Oriental, Diputado said in a Philippine News Agency report.
The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, has urged Congress to back its bid to restore and expand the grains purchasing powers of the NFA, aimed at bolstering food security by empowering the agency to directly buy corn and rice from local farmers and cooperatives.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the proposal is part of the amendments the DA envisions for the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) under the new RICE Act bill filed in the House of Representatives, which seeks to reestablish the NFA’s authority not only to purchase palay, but also milled rice and corn—a critical crop for both human consumption and livestock feed.
“Corn is not just a rice substitute in the Visayas and Mindanao, it is the backbone of the country’s feed production for our poultry and livestock sectors,” Tiu Laurel said in a recent statement, adding these sectors are central to a food-secure Philippines.
Yellow corn accounts for 46 percent of feeds used in livestock and 62 percent in poultry, based on National Corn Program data. But only 2.5 million hectares are planted to corn, supporting over 1.1 million Filipino farmers, the DA said.
Gross value added of corn in 2024, based on current prices from the Philippine Stock Exchange data, reached P116.29 billion—second only to rice and ahead of coconut and sugar—while livestock and poultry were valued at P319.48 billion and P142.06 billion, respectively.
Undersecretary for Operations and Agri-Fisheries Mechanization Roger Navarro said the NFA’s procurement of palay—and potentially corn—is vital during peak harvest periods, particularly in the wet season, to guarantee fair prices for farmers.
Tiu Laurel added that empowering the NFA to buy rice milled through government-funded rice processing systems will ensure sustainability and provide market assurance for cooperative members. “We must make these multi-million-peso facilities work for the farmers they were meant to serve.” ||
