NFA-NUEVA ECIJA DEPLOYS MOBILE PALAY PROCUREMENT TEAM

Amidst the scorching heat of the sun, NFA Grains Operations Officer II Coralyn Punongbayan of Nueva Ecija (above photo) double checks the quality of palay bought from farmers. (Lower photo) Members of the mobile procurement team weigh and load to trucks palay bought from farmers along the rice fields in one of the barangays of Nueva Ecija.
The food agency is deploying mobile procurement teams in remote and far-flung barangays in the country as part of its aggressive buying strategies to encourage local farmers to sell their produce to the food agency. On October 12, NFA started buying palay with an additional P3.00/kg buffer stocking incentive (BSI) on top of the government support price of P17.00/kg and other incentives such as such as delivery incentive of P0.20/kg, drying incentive of P0.20/kg, and Cooperative Development Incentive Fee (CDIF) of P0.30/kg.
NFA is optimistic it will be able to achieve its procurement target of 2.6 million bags for this year, given the additional BSI.
As of October 18, 2018, NFA has already procured a total of 141,041 bags. Aside from the mobile procurement, food agency has 279 buying stations nationwide to accept farmers deliveries./NFA