CITY OF MALOLOS — The Bulacan branch of the National Food Authority (NFA) is still procuring palay from farmers in the province.

Rhona Talens, the NFA Bulacan officer-in-charge branch manager, confirmed to ARKIPELAGO NEWS BULACAN on Tuesday (July 16) that they are still procuring farmers’ produce in Bulacan, provided that the quality of the palay meets the food agency’s set parameters.

Talens added that they are currently procuring farmers’ produce not included under the Palay Assistance to Legislators and Local Government Units (PALLGU) Program at P27.00 per kilo for clean and dry palay, while fresh or newly harvested palay is being bought at P21.00 per kilo.

Palay included under the PALLGU program is being procured at P28.00 per kilo for clean and dry palay, while fresh palay is being procured at P22.00 per kilo.

She also mentioned that they are currently conducting test milling with private rice millers on their palay stocks. She said the test millings are being conducted with “private millers who are interested in test milling the palay procured in the main crop with a GMR [general milling recovery] of 63 percent.”

The agency will be paying the private rice millers for processing its palay grains into rice under “a payment-in-kind scheme, wherein rice by-products corresponding to the test milling fee will serve as payment,” Talens noted.

However, she did not disclose when they will process all of their palay stocks in their warehouses in the province.

Earlier, Talens confirmed that they have already surpassed their procurement target of 103,000 bags for the months of January to June this year.

📷 NFA