Rice supply in Normin only last for one week, says NFA official

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent .

National Food Authority (NFA) in northern Mindanao is running out of rice supply, said NFA-10 regional manager Fernando Nuñez, Thursday.

He even officially declared that their rice supply would only last for one week due to non-importation and local supply.

“Atong stocks diri ang trend mahurot na kini sunod semana. One week na lang gyud since the scarcity of supply that started last February 8 from other regional units. Moundang gyud ta,” he said.

However, NFA-Camiguin still have 6,000 bags that will last for more than a month with a computable consumption of 200 bags per day.

“We have to protect Camiguin kay island ra ba kini and then taas kayo ilang market consumption kada adlaw which is 30 to 40 percent,” he said.

Newest regional consumption is 500,000 bags that shared almost all regional units in Mindanao area. Zamboanga peninsula was given 80,000 bags, 100,000 bags are shared to ARMM due the arm conflict and the rest of the supply was shared equally to other regions and provinces like Caraga, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental.

Nuñez said the NFA counsel is now working to fast tract the approval of another 250,000 metric tons of imported rice and will be distributed to all 15 regions throughout the country.

“Ang mo-agi nato diri for region 10 is apil pa gihapon ang supply for Marawi City,” he said.

He said there two types of importation processes that are working on. One is the NFA counsel import and the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) of import rice initiated by the private sector.

He added that when the import rice arrive, all the disbursement of supply would pass through by the accredited rice retailers and some were distributed through relief operation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“Diri mopalit ang DSWD including local government units (LGU) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) for prison meal distribution,” he said.

Nuñez said there is no such specific date for another importation supply of NFA rice. NFA-central office just informed regional units in fast racking the importation process for the whole 2018 supplies.

However, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco on Wednesday accused the National Food Authority (NFA) of creating an “artificial” rice shortage, as its buffer stock of the staple had dwindled to just 200,000 bags, good for less than a day’s supply for the entire country.