Two new warehouses of the Department of Agriculture-National Food Authority (DA-NFA) are now ready to serve the farmers in the country’s top rice-producing province in time for the harvest season.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar, NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal, and DA Central Luzon Regional Director Crispulo Bautista led the inauguration of the warehouses located in the Science City of Muñoz and in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija on July 28, 2021.
Secretary Dar said the event is important and historic for NFA as it starts to modernize with a line-up of infrastructure development projects that will contribute to the competitiveness of the local rice industry.
“In the future, after the consolidation of farms, we will provide more post-harvest facilities such as farm machineries to realize our vision of modernizing the country’s rice industry in the country,” the agri chief said.
He added that DA is targeting additional one million metric tons of palay production this year and increase the country’s rice sufficiency level up to 95 percent. This will also contribute to more rice supply as the Covid-19 pandemic is still affecting the country.
According to the agri chief, the government is pouring resources to enable Filipino farmers to be more productive.
“We will use every possible means, including modern technologies and innovations, so that collectively our farmers can be globally competitive,” Secretary Dar added.
Each warehouse has a capacity of 100,000 sacks and is expected to help intensify NFA’s palay procurement and buffer stocking.
The Muñoz warehouse covers the Science City of Muñoz, San Jose City, Talavera, Lupao, and Caranglan, while the Cabanatuan warehouse covers Cabanatuan City, Sta. Rosa, Palayan City, Zaragoza, Peñaranda, and Laur.
Administrator Dansal thanked Secretary Dar for supporting the infrastructure development projects of NFA, adding that 18 warehouses strategically located nationwide have been funded in 2020 and 2021.
“With this new storage facility, we are happy that NFA will have an additional rice depot to serve our farmers here and buy their produce at a fair government price,” she said.
Through the Rice Tariffication Law, NFA now serves as a buffer stocking agency, mandated to maintain and sustain the level of rice supply that can be tapped during natural calamities and other unforeseen events.
“These warehouses can now serve the farmers this coming harvest season starting August and September. Hopefully, we will be able to procure more so that we will be having more buffer stock available for the residents of Region 3,” NFA Regional Director Elvira Obaña said. ### (DA-AFID)
