(Eagle News) – Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured that there is enough rice in Metro Manila to meet the Philippine capital’s requirements amid the enhanced community quarantine in place due to the coronavirus crisis.
Dar said that the National Food Authority (NFA) as of Friday, March 20, has already completed the prepositioning of rice stocks which are ready for delivery and disbursement in strategic areas in Metro Manila.
The agriculture chief also assured that there is additional rice supply readily available depending on the demand as had been reported by NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal. He said that the NFA at present has to enough rice to also meet the requirements of the people for the next two weeks.
The NFA currently has 400,000 bags (50 kilograms per bag) or 20,000 metric tons of rice in its warehouses around Metro Manila.
Based on NFA data, Metro Manila consumes an average of 110,000 bags (50 kilograms) of rice daily – with NFA’s market participation pegged at 7%, while the private sector (local and imported) and household inventories have the remaining 93% of the inventory, the DA said.
Dansal said that they expect NFA’s market share to increase by 20% once local government units started buying their rice requirement from government-owned warehouses due to the enhanced community quarantine imposed in Metro Manila.
“We are prioritizing local government units for the sale of NFA rice,” Dansal said, noting that they are now working on the payment scheme for interested LGUs.
Dansal said that LGUs can coordinate with any NFA warehouse servicing their respective jurisdictions.
“For CAMANAVA, they can go to North District Office, while Quezon City and Manila can buy from our Central District Office. Meanwhile, those from Marikina and Rizal can coordinate with the East District Office and South District Office for Taguig, Pasay, Makati, Paranaque, and Pateros,” she said.
Dansal added that they have also prepositioned 15,000 bags of rice to augment requirement of Cavite province.
With the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine, DA Secretary Dar had early on ordered the strategic positioning of food supplies, including rice, as part of the proactive efforts to ensure food sufficiency for the 62.5 million population of Luzon.
