BALANGA CITY, Bataan — The National Food Authority’s (NFA) offer of PHP17 per kg. of palay cannot compete with the PHP28 per kg. or more offered by private rice traders.
With this in mind, the NFA provincial office in Balanga City on Wednesday expressed concern that they may not be able to procure palay from local farmers this harvest season.
Harvest in Bataan starts in the first week of October.
“Sadly, with our buying price of PHP17 per kg. for dry and clean palay, we presently cannot procure palay,“ NFA provincial manager Adelaida Nuestro said in Filipino. She said that based on their discussions with local rice millers, the buying price of dry palay is currently at PHP28 per kg.
Wet or undried palay with high moisture content are bought at PHP23 to PHP23.50 per kg., she added. “If dried, the price of palay is more than PHP28 and even reaches up to PHP29 per kg. So, it’s no wonder the price of rice in the markets is so high),” Nuestro said.
Commercial rice prices at the Balanga City public market reportedly ranges from PHP48 to PHP64 per kg.
Rosemarie Reyes, owner of St. Peter Ricemill in Orion, Bataan said that in anticipation of Typhoon Ompong, many farmers rushed harvest, so they were able to purchase a large quantity. “The farmers were frightened by the typhoon. That’s why they harvested the palay even (if it was still) green. They were in a hurry,” she explained in Filipino.
She said that some of their palay stock came from Tarlac, which can be bought at a lower price than those harvested in Bataan.
She said they began buying undried palay in Orion at PHP22 a kg., which eventually rose to PHP23.50. Palay from Bulacan cost PHP22 to PHP23 per kg. “The palay from Tarlac is cheaper, at only PHP21 a kg., but are still fresh and so the grains shrank significantly,” Reyes said. (Ernie Esconde/PNA)
