NFA-Kalinga assures rice buffer until 1st Q of 2016

By Larry T. Lopez

TABUK CITY, Kalinga– The National Food Authority provincial office said  rice buffer in the province would last until the first quarter of  2016.

NFA-Kalinga assistant provincial manager Ric Baliang said their warehouse contains 39,000 bags of imported cheap and quality rice, allaying speculations of rice shortage in the province amid the present irrigation crisis that prevented rice farmers here from planting in the June-November cropping this year.

In line with its mandate to provide available and affordable rice, Balliang said their office conducts intensified monitoring of all NFA bigasan outlets to ensure there is no price adjustment on NFA rice.
 NFA rice sells at P27-32/kg but Balliang said minimal price “add-on” is accommodated in far-flung areas to defray hauling and transportation costs.

Meanwhile, NFA-Kalinga has opened its yellow corn procurement to help rice farmers who converted their rice land to corn farms in the face of the irrigation problem now.   

According to Baliang, NFA-Kalinga has a corn procurement quota of 1,200 bags for this season and offers P12/kg to good dry corn.