By TED CORDERO, GMA Integrated News

The National Food Authority (NFA) on Tuesday said it has grown its rice buffer stock to its highest level in five years.

In a statement, the NFA said it has built a buffer stock of about 7.17 million 50-kilogram bags of milled rice.

The grains agency said this is its highest inventory level since the end of 2020, backed by higher palay buying price that averaged P27 a kilo last year and around P24 per kilo this year.

Despite the higher stockpile, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the agency still has ample funds to procure more palay.

According to Lacson, the grains agency can still procure around 500,000 metric tons of palay—equivalent to approximately 6.3 million bags of milled rice.

“So far this year, we’ve spent only P2.6 billion of the P14.6 billion available to us for palay procurement. This includes unspent funds of P5.6 billion carried over from the 2024 budget,” said the NFA chief.

Under the revised Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the NFA is now mandated to maintain a 15-day national rice buffer stock —up from the previous nine-day requirement— sourced from local farmers to support domestic agriculture.

The NFA said it is upgrading its storage infrastructure, including warehouses and handling facilities to accommodate a higher stockpile of 555,000 metric tons of rice, or 880,000 metrics tons of palay.

When the RTL was first implemented in 2019, the NFA held buffer stocks equivalent to just over 492,000 metric tons, much of it composed of imported rice.

However, the NFA’s role has significantly changed under the RTL.

It is no longer allowed to sell rice directly to the public, a departure from its pre-RTL operations. Its current mandate limits public sales to “aging stocks”—milled rice that has been stored for at least two months since processing.

As of April 11, the NFA held 1.1 million bags of milled rice, a mixture of newly milled and those that fall into the aging stock category.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., for his part, said the current reserves empower the government to support vulnerable communities, potentially at prices even lower than the P29-per-kilo subsidized rice sold in government-run programs.

“We continue to explore ways to better manage the NFA’s aging rice stocks, while ensuring that the most disadvantaged Filipinos receive the assistance they need,” said Tiu Laurel.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

Published Date: April 22, 2025