NFA Bulacan exceeds palay procurement target, still buying farmers’ produce
Mon Lazaro May 20, 2024 at 06:37 PMCITY OF MALOLOS– The National Food Authority (NFA) Bulacan branch continues to buy farmers’ produce despite exceeding its palay procurement target for the current dry cropping season.
Rhona Talens, NFA Bulacan branch manager, told ARKIPELAGO NEWS BULACAN in a text message that they have already bought over 120,000 bags of palay from Bulacan farmers.
She said earlier that their summer crop procurement target was 103,000 bags, with newly harvested palay being bought at P17.00 to P23.00 per kilo and with a moisture content ranging from 22 percent to 29.9 percent.
On the other hand, clean and dry palay with a moisture content ranging from 13 percent to 14 percent is being bought at P30.00 per kilo.
Based on their monitoring, the province of Bulacan have a total of 32,642 hectares of land planted with rice crops, Talens noted.
She pointed out that more than half of these ricelands have already been harvested, and 45 percent still have standing rice crops.
She assured Bulacan farmers that as long as they are selling their produce “within the parameters set by the NFA, we are more than willing to buy.”
She added that the NFA Bulacan will still be buying clean and dry palay from the farmers at P30.00 per kilo from May 20 to May 26 this year.
On the other hand, Liza Sacdalan, president of the Central Luzon Organic Rice Producers Association, told ARKIPELAGO NEWS BULACAN that the NFA buying price for clean and dry palay at P30 per kilo is higher by an average of P2.00 to P3.00 per kilo compared to the prices of private traders, which range from P27.00 to P28.00 per kilo.
📷 Mon Lazaro