As per an official from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the country’s rice supply is sufficient for the upcoming months due to a combination of the previous harvest and rice shipments from other nations.
DA Undersecretary Leocaldo Sebastian stated on Wednesday that the country presently possesses around 7.6 million metric tons (MT) of rice. This includes 5.7 million MT produced during the dry season and an additional 1.9 million MT obtained through imports.
“Pagsamasamahin mo ‘yun, sapat na sapat ‘yung ating pangangailangan hanggang sa mga susunod na buwan,” he said during the televised public briefing.
“Nasa kasagsagan na rin tayo ng pagtatanim at nage-expect tayo na nitong August meron na ring mga magha-harvest, September marami nang magha-harvest, so mayroon naman tayong sapat na supply ng bigas,” he added.
It’s important to note that the recent reports on the rice stockpile of the National Food Authority (NFA) indicate that they have 60,819.95 MT of rice, which is estimated to last for just two days based on the daily consumption rate of 679,670 bags or 33,983.5 MT.
Department of Agriculture assures enough rice supply
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the NFA’s portion of the country’s total rice stock stands at 1.41 million MT as of the end of March, representing only 7.3% of the total.
It is worth recalling that the NFA’s role was modified to focus exclusively on ensuring sufficient buffer stocks in the country, as opposed to its previous role of regulating the entire rice sector.
Additionally, the Rice Tariffication Law brought changes that allowed other agencies to import rice into the country, no longer making the NFA the sole entity responsible for rice imports.
“Ngayon kasi, ang role nila ay para sa kwan na lang eh, in case of emergency, doon kumukuha ang pamahalaan ng bigas na pinamimigay ‘pag may mga bagyo, mga ganyan, mga sakuna,” Sebastian said.