Department of Agriculture records showed Monday that Mindanao palay farmers, who have just started harvesting their wet season crop, are enjoying high farmgate prices for fresh produce at P21 to P23 per kilogram.

Reports obtained by Daily Tribune showed that farmgate prices for fresh palay in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) as of 5 October is at P20 to P22 per kilogram; and for the 160 variety (a preferred seed by farmers and the market), the farmgate is at P21.50 to P24 per kilogram.

The records also indicated that the harvest completed was only 20 percent.

For Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), the farmgate price is at P20 to P23 per kilogram and the harvest completed is at 25 percent. For Region 13 (CARAGA), the farmgate price of fresh palay is P21 to P23 per kilogram, and the harvest completed is just 33 percent.

For all three regions, harvest is expected to peak only by the end of October until November.

This increase in palay prices hampered the National Food Authority from buying from the farmers even if its buying prices have been raised from P16 to 19 per kilogram for wet palay and P19 to P23 for dry palay.

The DA regional field offices were asked to coordinate and help the NFA explore ways to enjoin farmers to sell their palay so the NFA could beef up its buffer stocks.

The DA recommended that for the NFA to buy from the farmers it should be channeled through the clustered irrigators associations, particularly those that have been receiving financial and inputs interventions from the DA, to convince their members to set aside a portion of their produce so NFA could buy at its new buying prices, to help shore up government's buffer stocks.

The regional field officer of CARAGA said they are meeting with NFA this 20 October for the possibility of setting up a buying station near the farms where farmers can bring their produce for sale to NFA.

The NFA recently said it had only bought during the ongoing wet season crop harvest of only 8,700 metric tons from 20 September to 5 October.