NFA 8 assures sufficiency of rice supply at P18.50/kilo in East Visayas

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
April 8, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  – There is sufficient supply of NFA rice in the Region, Mr. Eduardo Penaflorida of the National Food Authority informed the members the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council in Eastern Visayas, during its meeting on April 8 at the Ritz Tower de Leyte.

The NFA 8 also assured that NFA rice is sold at P18.50 per kilo, still the same price. In other words, there is no increase in the price of NFA rice and so any NFA authorized Bigasan ng Bayan selling more than that should be reported to the nearest NFA office.

Mr. Penaflorida disclosed that as of April 8, the National Food Authority has 280,007 bags of rice available in the six provinces of Eastern Visayas.  The average daily requirement of the Region is 6,108 bags only which means that the available stock of rice at NFA 8 is good for 46 days, more than enough before the arrival of additional stocks, Mr. Penaflorida said.

The stocks in the six provinces of the Region is such that Leyte has 86,159 bags; Southern Leyte has 16,144 bags; Biliran has 38,364 bags; Samar has 63,477 bags; Northern Samar has 53,234 bags while Eastern Samar has 22, 629.

The average daily requirement of Leyte is 1,008; Southern Leyte, 800 bags; Biliran, 700 bags; Samar, 1,200 bags; Northern Samar, 1,100 bags and Eastern Samar, 1,300 bags making a total Regionwide Daily Requirement of 6,108 bags.

The targeted rice allocation for NFA Region 8 is 2,270,000 bags. Right now, there are rice bags which are being unloaded at the various disports in the Region. Including the bags which are now being unloaded, the balance to be released to NFA 8 is still expecting for the delivery of about 1,779,800 bags.

In Tacloban, about 45,000 bags have arrived on April 6 and unloading is still in progress, Mr. Penaflorida bared. In the port of Maasin, 30,000 bags arrived on April 6 and are now being unloaded. In Guiuan, 20,000 bags arrived on April 7 and unloading is still in progress; while in Baybay, 20 bags arrived on April 4 and are now being unloaded.

Moreover, Mr. Alfeo L. Selpa, Regional Operations officer reported that the January shipment of 70,000 bags, is supposed to be part of the Region’s 2007 Dispersal balance from Cebu. Hence, NFA 8 is negotiating that this should not be deducted from the 2,270,000 bags allocated for the Region for 2008.