ROXAS City – The rice requirement in Capiz is sufficient despite the El Niño phenomenon.
Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel of the National Food Authority (NFA) said the agency’s rice buffer stocks are enough for the daily requirements of Capiz’s population.
As of Jan. 5, NFA Capiz’s rice stocks totaled 126,025 bags. These included 50,999 bags of imported rice and 115,424 bags of palay.
Fidel said the rice stocks were equivalent to 22 days sufficiency based on the 5,760 bags daily requirement in Capiz.
“Aside from the NFA stocks, there are also rice stocks in households, traders and millers,” Fidel said.
In anticipation of the adverse effects of El Niño on the agriculture sector, the food agency also stepped up its palay procurement activities to have a stable supply of rice.
As of December 2015, NFA Capiz was able to buy 110,433 bags of palay from farmers’ organizations and individual farmers, said Fidel.
NFA Capiz is targeting to buy 2,000 bags of palay this January.
The government has enough funds to buy palay harvests, Fidel said. (PIA-6/PN)
