Rice farmers, Julius Libres and Ruben Yecyec of Lemon Farmers Association thanked Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar and DA Caraga Regional Director Abel James Monteagudo for ensuring that rice farmers profit from their harvest.

On October 22, Libres and Yecyec delivered 1.8 and 1.5 metric tons of palay, respectively, to the buying station of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Butuan City.

Both farmers expressed appreciation to NFA for setting the buying price at P19.00 per kilo.

Libres explained that he sells to NFA because he gets competitive price for his produce. He added that the grains’ agency buys rice P6 more than the rate of the private traders. “Malaki ang lugi ng magsasaka sa trader. Pero dito sa NFA, bibilin nila ng P19, malaki ang diperensya,” he said.

“Dito ako nagbebenta sa NFA kasi bumilbili sila ng kahit na anong variety, di kagaya sa trader,” Libres said.

Meanwhile, Yecyec, who delivered his hybrid rice harvest to NFA, shared the same sentiment. “Kung sa trader ako magbebenta, P13 pesos lang nila bibilin. Masyado mababa ang bili nila,” he said. ### (Adora Rodriguez, DA-AFID)