LAGAWE, Ifugao – Food security and stabilization as the mandates of the National Food Authority (NFA) were explained by new NFA Ifugao Manager Corazon Pangan for better public understanding.
In a radio program, Pangan expounded that food security involves assurance of staple cereals in times and places of natural or man-made calamity or emergency, to respond within 48-hours to the requirements of calamity stricken areas and restore or maintain within two 2 weeks the commodities supply and prices at levels immediately prior to the calamity or emergency.
The NFA shall also stabilize prices of staple cereals both at the farm-gate and consumer levels, ensure farm-gate price at levels that enable farmers to derive reasonable returns on their production and ensure reasonable retail prices for consumers.
Towards this end, NFA’s programs include direct intervention consisting of procurement and distribution and indirect intervention which includes Farmers Option to Buy-Back (FOBB), Grains Inventory Financing Technique (GIFT), Farmer’s Grain Exchange Program (FGEP), Farmer’s Incentive Rice Purchase Program (FAIR) and Post-Harvest Facility (PHF) Assistance Program and Special Program on Disaster Preparedness.
Pangan said under the procurement program, it involves the actual procurement from individual farmers, cooperatives or farmers’ organizations at government support price to ensure market to accommodate farmer produce and enable the farmers a fair return on their production investment. It also ensures and establishes manageable buffer stock for adequate and continuous supply of staple.
She informed that the NFA buys dried palay at P17.00/kg. and dried corn at P12.30/kg with the added incentives of those who sell their products to the NFA consisting of P0.20/kg drying incentive and P0.20/kg. delivery incentive for both palay and corn commodities bringing the total government support price to P17.40/kg. for palay and P12.70/kg. for corn. Cooperative Development Incentive Fee (CDIF) of P0.30/kg. shall also be granted or added on top of the total support price to deliveries of cooperatives or farmer’s organization.
Deliveries can be made to the NFA Lagawe warehouse which has a capacity of 20,000 bags to service the municipalities of Lagawe, Asipulo, Lamut, Kiangan, Mayoyao, Hungduan, Hingyon, Banaue and Tinoc , and the Alfonso Lista warehouse for the municipalities of Alfonso Lista, Aguinaldo and some part of Mayoyao.
The distribution program, on the other hand, aims to ensure price of staple that is reasonable and affordable to the consuming public and involves the selling through NFA Accredited Retailers (NARs), government agencies, private institutions and others or directly to end-consumers also at government –set release prices of P27.00/kg. for regular milled rice and P32.00/kg for well milled rice.
The NFA distribution centers are located in Lagawe with a rice stock inventory of 13,998 bags and Alfonso Lista with 7,571 bags for a total rice stock inventory for the whole province of 21,569 bags as of February 19, 2015.
In addition, the NFA presently also has a household stock of 5,560 bags that can last for 48 days and commercial stock of 1,192 bags for a grand total of rice stock of 28,321 bags that can last for 63.60 days. The province has a computed daily consumption rate of 1,680 bags of rice.
By Daniel Codamon
