Despite the thin palay (unmilled rice) procurement for buffer stocking in the early months of this year, the National Food Authority (NFA) has successfully bounced back as it has completed and even exceeded its palay volume target from January to June.

NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said that as of Thursday, the food agency had achieved 100.06 percent of its palay procurement.

“Today, we already hit more than our target for January to June 2024. We are continuously procuring palay from our local farmers under our Price Range Scheme, or PRICERS, where we buy wet palay at P17 to P23 per kilogram while we buy clean and dry palay at P23 to P30 per kilogram,” he said.

In a statement, the DA attached corporation said that of the total target of 3,363,100 bags, equivalent to 168,155 metric tons (MT) of palay, NFA has acquired a total of 3,365,245 bags, or 168,262 MT in volume.

“We thank our farmers who continue to improve the cultivation of rice for our country, as well as our agency staff who diligently serve to meet the agency’s mandate,” Lacson said.

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. It began procuring palay under PRICERs on 22 April.

Moreover, the agency earlier said their palay procurement sourced from the domestic yield would continue despite the imported rice tariff reduction from 35 percent to 15 percent.

Lacson, who said the NFA’s pricing is “totally independent of the tariff,” assured farmers they would continue to buy palay from them at higher prices since they “want them to continue planting and we want them to earn.”

A total of 495,000 metric tons of palay is the target for this year, of which 60 percent will be procured in the wet season harvest.