NFA Council okays P10-B modernization plan

The National Food Authority (NFA) Council has approved a P10-billion modernization plan to boost the grains agency's capacity to process and store locally procured rice so it can beef up its buffer stock.

In a statement on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the NFA's modernization plan would address "one of the biggest problems of the rice industry—we don't have enough post-harvest facilities."

From a high of 80% drying capacity in the mid-1980s, Tiu Laurel said drying capacity is down to 5% due to increasing production and lack of investments in new facilities.

The DA chief said the P10 billion fund is just a fraction of the estimated P93 billion for post-harvest capacity to reach 90%.

Tiu Laurel said these dryers, rice mills, warehouses and silos would be built in major rice production areas.

The Agriculture chief said the projects will be funded with money from the national government budget for this year.

For his part, NFA Officer-in-Charge Administrator Larry Lacson said that even with completion of projects under the modernization plan, NFA's drying capacity would only rise to 180,000 metric tons.

"What we need is at least 495,000 metric tons of drying capacity," said Lacson.

To help implement the plan, the NFA Council approved the appointment of Mario Andrada as NFA deputy administrator.

Andrada will head the agency's bids and awards committee that will handle contracts for the modernization projects.

The NFA Council also increased its procurement price per kilogram of palay in a bid to boost the agency’s buffer stock and make it more competitive in the market.

The new buying price for dry and clean palay ranges between P23 to P30 per kilo from the previous P19 to P23 per kilo, while for fresh palay the procurement price range was upgraded to P17 to P23 per kilo from P16 to P19 per kilo. — VDV, GMA Integrated News