The National Food Authority (NFA) said on Wednesday that it was able to increase its palay inventory after marking up its buying prices from local farmers.

According to the Department of Agriculture (DA) attached corporation, as of 15 May this year, an additional 2.41 million 50-kilo bags were procured since improving its buying prices for palay.

From 1 January to 15 April, a total of 142,244 sacks of palay were procured.

On 11 April, the NFA increased the purchase price for palay after admitting their thin procurement due to private traders outbidding them with higher buying prices.

With the improved prices, the clean and dry palay now has a buying price range of P23 to P30 per kilogram, while the fresh and wet palay is priced at P17 to P23 per kilogram.

From the previous buying prices, clean and dry were priced at P19 to P23 per kilogram, while fresh and wet were priced at P16 to P19 per kilogram.

“The new price scheme is really the game changer,” NFA officer-in-charge administrator Larry Lacson said.