DUMANGAS, Iloilo —Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. on Wednesday announced a higher National Food Authority (NFA) minimum buying price for palay and a temporary halt to rice import arrivals in Iloilo during the harvest season, a twin move that should boost farmgate prices and ensure better returns for farmers.
Speaking at the inauguration of a P355-million modern rice processing center in Dumangas, Tiu Laurel said the NFA will raise its minimum buying price for palay to P21 per kilo from P17 beginning with the next harvest in September.
“I’ve ordered the NFA to set the minimum buying price for wet palay at P21 per kilo to help address the higher cost of fertilizer and other inputs,” said Tiu Laurel, who also chairs the NFA Council.
He also announced that imported rice will not be allowed to unload at any Iloilo port from mid-September until the end of November, preventing imported supplies from coinciding with the peak harvest.
“That is what I can do to ensure that you would earn a decent return from your hard work,” he told farmers.
The twin measures are expected to strengthen farmers’ bargaining position by giving the NFA greater influence over local palay prices while easing competitive pressure from imported rice during the harvest season.
Iloilo, the rice bowl of the Visayas, accounts for about half of Western Visayas’ rice production and more than 5 percent of national output.
The newly inaugurated facility can process up to 4,800 bags of 50-kilo bag of palay daily and is equipped with mechanical dryers that allow the NFA to buy freshly harvested wet palay at better prices. Its expanded storage capacity will enable the grains agency to absorb up to 12 percent of Iloilo’s projected harvest, enough to help stabilize market prices.
Tiu Laurel said two more large rice processing facilities in Iloilo are expected to be operational by the October harvest, while a smaller processing center in Dumangas will eventually be turned over to a farmers’ cooperative.
Nationwide, the National Food Authority is building 36 modern rice processing facilities to reduce post-harvest losses, improve farmers’ incomes and strengthen the country’s food security. Half are expected to be operational during this wet season, with the remainder coming online before next year’s dry-season harvest.
“These are part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vision of a modernized agricultural sector, where farmers earn a decent living, consumers enjoy affordable food, and the Philippines achieves lasting food security,” Tiu Laurel said.
