(Eagle News) — The National Food Authority has approved that immediate importation of 133,500 metric tons of rice for the provinces of Zamboanga, Basilan, Sultan Kudarat and Tawi-tawi (Zambasulta).
The move was made to mitigate the high prices of rice and to meet the lack of rice supplies in these areas.
The NFA said that the first batch of 33,500 tons of imported rice will arrive between September 15 to September 30, while the remaining 100,000 metric tons of imported rice will arrive between October 31 to November 30.
NFA will allocate additional rice stocks to the four provinces to provide consumers more sources of low-priced good-quality NFA rice.
These additional rice stocks will be sold at P27 per kilogram.
“The rice crisis in Zamboanga has been declared solved, but NFA continues to distribute its P27/kilogram well-milled rice in the market even as cheaper commercial rice stocks are also flooding in,” the NFA said.