NFA offers to buy palay from farmers in Pangasinan

LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN— Following the sudden drop of palay (unhusked rice) prices in Pangasinan province, the National Food Authority (NFA) is offering to cushion its impact by buying grains from farmers this harvest season.

NFA has opened buying stations in the towns of Lingayen and Mangatarem and in Dagupan and Alaminos cities, said Rolando Rufo, NFA manager in western Pangasinan.

He said the NFA serves as an alternative market when palay prices drop. Prices dipped from P15 a kilogram of palay to P12 a kg due to the flood of imported rice in the market, according to the Pangasinan Federation of Irrigators’ Associations.

Oftociano Manalo, president of the irrigators’ group, questioned the arrival of the imported rice in time for the harvest season.

But Juliet Bascos-Orias, NFA assistant manager in western Pangasinan, said imported rice could not have penetrated the local market yet because the allocation for the province would be delivered next year. —GABRIEL CARDINOZA