MANILA — The National Food Authority (NFA) is poised to see a significant increase in its revenue, projecting an additional PHP557.3 million, following the approval of a new selling price for rice distributed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
According to Philippines News Agency, the NFA Council recently sanctioned an increase in the selling price of NFA rice to PHP38 per kilogram, up from the earlier PHP25 per kilogram. This adjustment is expected to mitigate losses and enhance the authority’s capacity to support local farmers by purchasing more palay, the unprocessed grain of rice. “The higher selling price agreed to by the DSWD will help not only reduce NFA losses but also give it additional resources to buy more palay from our farmers,” stated DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson expressed gratitude towards the DSWD for endorsing the NFA’s pricing adjustments. He noted, “The additional revenue from our sales to DSWD will allow us to buy an additional 400,000 50-kilo bags of palay, equivalent to 12,600 metric tons of rice.” This initiative aligns with the NFA’s objective to significantly bolster its palay purchases during the forthcoming wet harvest season, targeting an acquisition range of 6.4 million to 8.7 million bags.
The pricing strategy not only reflects the NFA’s operational adjustments but also its efforts to stabilize rice supply and prices in the market. Earlier in the year, the NFA had successfully secured approximately 3.5 million 50-kg bags of palay from the dry harvest season, leveraging its revised pricing scheme, which sets the purchase price for fresh or wet palay at PHP17 to PHP23 per kilogram, and PHP23 to PHP30 per kilogram for clean and dry palay.