The National Food Authority (NFA) plans abandoning the re-bagging of palay purchased from farmers in a bid to cut costs and save an estimated P500 million.
According to Larry Lacson, NFA acting administrator, re-bagging entails the procurement of sacks costing P13 each plus handling costs of another P30 per sack.
“So, that’s more or less half a billion pesos saved by (merely) tweaking that particular process,” Lacson said of the direction the agency is leaning pending the full outcome of an ongoing evaluation.
The NFA said the re-bagging of delivered palay assumes that each is sturdy enough although there have been cases when farmers used inferior bags that tear easily.
Earlier, the NFA announced exceeding its upgraded palay procurement target in the first half by buying at a higher price.
As of 13 June, NFA palay procurement total 3.37 million 50-kilo bags, slightly above thetarget of 3.36 million bags.
Palay inventory total 168,262 metric tons, sufficient to cover four days of consumption.
The NFA has a P17 billion budget this year for rice procurement.
