The National Food Authority (NFA) said Wednesday the country has enough rice despite the agency having difficulty acquiring buffer stocks.

In an interview with dzBB, NFA officer-in-charge Larry Lacson said there is sufficient supply, especially since it is the harvest season.

“I think and the DA (Department of Agriculture) thinks there is no reason to worry because the harvest is higher than last year,” Lacson said

Lacson explained that only the NFA had a hard time buying palay from farmers since they were sold at high prices.

He added that the NFA Council would be meeting on Thursday, to discuss how to replenish buffer stocks.

According to Lacson, the NFA’s buying price for clean and dry palay is P23 per kilo, while fresh palay is bought at P19 per kilo.

The agency is studying raising these prices, he added.

The NFA previously said in an accomplishment report that it was unable to hit its target for palay procurement in February.

Based on the report, the NFA was only able to purchase 12,378 bags or 618.9 metric tons (MT) of palay in February compared to its goal of procuring 542,800 bags or 27,140 MT of palay for that month. Jaspearl Tan/DMS