LEGAZPI CITY –– The National Food Authority (NFA) in Bicol has assured the public that there is a sufficient supply of rice for the region due to a good harvest during the second quarter of the year.
Henry Tristeza, NFA Bicol chief, said there are 36,000 bags of rice and 378,000 bags of unhusked rice (palay) in various warehouses across Bicol.
He said 378,000 bags of rice would serve as additional buffer stock for the 15-day requirement under the agency guidelines.
With the easing of the community quarantine status from general to the modified general in most of the region, “we could now go on full blast in milling our palay reserves,” Tristeza said in an interview.
The good harvest during the first half of the year has increased the region’s rice sufficiency since, aside from palay bought by the agency, private rice traders also bought the bulk of the palay harvested by the farmers, he said.
LZB