THE National Food Authority (NFA) said on Thursday that it will no longer re-bag palay (unmilled rice) starting from the wet-season harvest to save on costs.
“The NFA has signed an order where farmers selling palay use their own sacks,” acting Administrator Larry R. Lacson told reporters at a briefing.
He added that the NFA will conduct a pilot test during the wet season harvest, in which 20% of palay procured from domestic farmers will no longer be re-bagged in NFA-branded sacks. This is equivalent to about 1.3 million bags.
“The NFA will no longer spend money on transferring the palay to new sacks; At the same time it will reduce handling costs,” Mr. Lacson said.
The NFA had previously required farmers to re-bag their harvest when selling to the NFA. Farmers have said that delayed the turnover of palay.
The NFA is required to procure domestically grown rice and hold it in reserve in the event of shortages or calamities.
The NFA is expected to save about P27.4 million from the suspension of palay repacking from October to December.
He added that if the test is successful, the NFA will roll out the measure next year, which could save the about P215.5 million.
He said that the savings realized from re-bagging could also be used in procuring more palay.
“This is an amount the NFA could use to buy an additional 7,700 metric tons of palay at an average price of P28 a kilogram,” Mr. Lacson said.
The NFA has just adopted a new pricing scheme for palay, offering between P23 and P25 per kilo.
The NFA is targeting a palay inventory of 435,000 MT before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the NFA said that it has partnered with the Philippine National Oil Co. on a rooftop solar panels project for the NFA central office.
Mr. Lacson said that the solar project will eventually be replicated at other NFA sites.
According to their Memorandum of Agreement, the NFA will lease a 100-kilowatt rooftop solar photovoltaic system. The entire NFA network will eventually host solar capacity of 5 megawatts.
“We will not only save on our power costs from this solar rooftop project, we are also contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and in safeguarding the environment,” he said. — Adrian H. Halili