TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) –In consonance with their mandate to procure palay solely from local farmers and to maintain an optimal level of rice inventory for emergency situation relief assistance, the National Food Authority (NFA) has adopted the Palay Marketing Assistance Program for Legislators and Local Government Units (PALLGU).
PALLGU provides the rice farmer an opportunity to maximize his income and at the same time, allow the LGUs to serve and help their farmer constituents, explained NFA Bohol branch manager Pilita Barajan, at the weekly Kapihan sa PIA.
While the NFA is now mandated now to keep an optimal level of buffer stocks for emergency situations and to sustain government’s disaster relief programs, it now partners with local government units in assisting palay farmers in marketing their produce by asking LGUS to provide additional financial price support premium over the government procurement support price.
In the PALLGU program, after signing a Memorandum of Agreement with the LGU following the LGU’s letter of intent, the LGU downloads to the NFA; the money that would be used as a top-up premium price to local farmers who sell their harvest to the NFA.
At a premium support price of at least P1.00 per kilo, and a minimum volume for LGU support at 50 bags, the LGU is assured of the rice equivalent of the total palay stocks procured from the town’s farmers as the LGU buffer stock of its disaster relief response and food security requirements.
With this program, instead of the regular NFA procurement at P19.00 per kilo as per fixed government support price, the NFA can pay the farmers as much as P20 or P25.00 per kilo, it the LGU puts up P6.00 support price for a kilo of locally produced rice.
The NFA will also designate a local warehouse and buying station in the town, upon which the farmers can have their palay delivered for NFA payment; the LGU in fact would provide for the vehicle for use by the farmers in delivering their palay to the buying station.
The LGU, after signing the MOA with the NFA, shall furnish the government grains authority a masterlist of farmer beneficiaries and the corresponding details on who would supply the stocks.
In Bohol, two towns have already signed up for the PALLGU, according to Barajan.
These towns are Calape and Mabini, while the NFA is still finalizing the MOA with Ubay, which has signified to put up a total premium support price P3M for the program for P20,000 bags.
With The PALLGU, the perennial problem of palay marketing which has forced farmers to sell their harvests at a cheap price to traders, can now be addressed.
At the moment, commercial traders are buying palay at P22.00.
With the fixed government support price of P19.00 a kilo of palay, an additional P5.00 from the government’s procurement price could go a long way to help farmers.
With the NFA keeping only 25,000 bags of rice in its buffer stocks, an LGU can easily get an assured supply of relief assistance from the funded purchases in the town. (PIAbohol)
