National Food Authority administrator Larry R. Lacson, during the first Monday flag-raising ceremony held at its home office in Visayas, Quezon City, bares the new challenges that the agency will face in 2025.
Among the challenges enumerated is the release of rice stocks from the NFA warehouses. He said that the agency accomplished ninety-five percent (95%) of its procurement target of 300,000 MT in 2024. “Only after the NFA issued its rice stocks from its warehouses could the agency procure from the local farmers,” he said.
Secondly, he continues, the nine-day (9) buffer stock as mandated per Rice Trade Liberalization (RTL) was increased to fifteen (15) days. “We have limited releases to the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), and now that the buffer stock is increased to fifteen days, there is a bigger challenge in terms of warehousing. With this, I already instructed the operations team to hand in the full quantity capacity of our warehouses to accommodate the 15-day buffer stock. This matter was discussed with the GCG (Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations). I believe that they (GCG) appreciate our explanations on this matter,” he said.
Thirdly, Lacson said, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was already approved on December 30, 2024, but the budget for NFA is still nine (9) billion pesos, the same as last year, despite the increased target for the buffer stocking.
“The broader the challenge, the greater is the avenue that we could learn and accomplish more. The NFA family could hurdle the challenges, especially since the Malacañang supports NFA’s plan of actions.
Administrator Lacson said that he is confident that the agency could push through with its intensified procurement nationwide, especially since the employees are excited to work this 2025 to further help the stakeholders.
“I believe that with the help of everyone, kayang-kaya natin ito. Kahit maraming challenges, panatag ang NFA this year and moving forward,” he said. ### (By Carolina Manzano, DA-NFA)
