Poor villages to start selling gov't rice in Cagayan de Oro City

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - The Northern Mindanao office of the National Food Authority (NFA) will harness village-based trading of government-subsidized rice to far-flung villages in this city to force commercial rice traders to bring down prices of their stocks. Rice to be sold in far-flung villages barangays will be from imported stocks, to be sold at P25 per kilogram. "This is for the lean months that will start in June and last until September," said Rose Minda Simon of NFA’s Misamis Oriental office. Ms. Simon said that this will be on a case-to-case basis where they will prioritize villages whose residents find it difficult to buy NFA rice in the city’s public market outlets. Other than barangay-based trading, she said, there are 16 government rice outlets in areas within the city proper that have been identified by the Department of Social Welfare Development as beneficiaries of the government’s pro-poor program. Prices of commercial rice in the city have remained high in recent days, going up to P50/kg among some retailers, despite availability of government rice priced from P18.25/kg-P35/kg. Last month, panic buying of NFA rice occurred here when residents heard the government would raise prices of its rice. - G. P. Alba, BusinessWorld