The National Food Authority will start pilot testing the acceptance of palay bagged by farmers in new and good secondhand sacks, a measure that could save the grains agency millions of pesos.
The savings could be used to buy more palay for buffer stocking and boost farmer income, said NFA administrator Larry Lacson.
The pilot testing relates to the estimated 20 percent of the target 6.4 million 50-kilo bags of palay procured using the farmers’ sacks.
Lacson said if the pilot test succeeds, the agency will implement it next year with up to 90 percent of palay procured bagged in farmers’ sacks.
“At 20 percent of 6.4 million bags of procurement target during the main cropping season, NFA will save around P27.4 million in the fourth quarter alone in terms of the cost of new sacks and warehouse handling,” said Lacson.
“At 90 percent of procurement target of 10.9 million bags of palay next year, we could save around P215.5 million, an amount the NFA could use to buy an additional 7,700 metric tons of palay at an average price of P28 a kilo,” Lacson said.
The NFA reached the decision to accept palay in farmers sacks during various consultations with farmers nationwide. It was finalized at the agency’s national planning conference held in Dumaguete City last September.
