NFA mulls doing away with re-bagging of procured palay

The National Food Authority (NFA) is planning to do away with the re-bagging of sacks of palay or unhusked rice it procured from local farmers to save on costs.

At the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum in Quezon City on Tuesday, NFA acting administrator Larry Lacson said the grains agency is currently doing a study on no longer re-bagging the palay it bought.

“It’s in the final stages… but we’re really going towards that direction,” Lacson said.

The NFA chief said the plan to do away with re-bagging palay stemmed from observations that re-bagging sacks sold by farmers to the agency was redundant.

“When we buy palay, it will be re-bagged to NFA sacks,” Lacson said, noting that the agency will still process the palay into rice.

Lacson added that re-bagging sacks of palay would no longer be necessary if the sacks being sold by farmers met the specifications of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“It will also save us money… at the same time, we save money on handling cost,” he said, adding the agency could save as much as P13 per sack if it will do away with re-bagging.

Additionally, Lacson said the NFA could save about P30 per sack in handling cost. Multiply by 10 million sacks, he said the savings could be more or less half-a-billion pesos for the NFA.

Under the Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA is tasked with maintaining a national rice buffer stock equivalent to at least nine days of consumption, which now stands at 330,000 metric tons, to cover requirements in times of disasters and other calamities.

The law does not allow NFA to import or trade rice. It also requires it to source its buffer stock from local rice farmers. —KBK, GMA Integrated News