ENOUGH SUPPLY. National Food Authority (NFA) Region 11 Manager Virgilio B. Alerta assures the public that the region has enough supply of rice despite the El Niño phenomenon. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY — The National Food Authority (NFA) of Davao reported on Monday, March 28 that based on their survey, there will be no big price hike for rice throughout the El Niño period in the region.
During Monday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw here, NFA-Davao Provincial Manager Virgilio Alerta said that according to their regular monitoring, there are no massive price hike all over the region that is happening even during the El Niño period.
“Naay ginagmay na P0.50 nga pagsaka sa retail price apan ang wholesale price wala nagsaka nagpirnamente ang presyo (There is only a P0.50 centavo price hike for retail price but for wholesale the price is still stable),” said Alerta.
Alerta added that even if there is no El Niño phenomenon, Davao now enters the lean months, which means it is not a harvest season.
“Pero naay harvest ginagmay labi na didtoa sa Cotabato, Agusan and kadtong areas na wala pa naigo sa El Niño (But there are some areas such as Cotabato, Agusan which were not hit by El Niño),”he said.
Alerta added that “there is no reason for a massive price hike of rice because Davao City has sufficient supply.”
In the Davao area, there is a 500-hectare of land allotted for rice farming,located in Calinan district.
Alerta said that a total of 86 bags per hectare are being harvested in the area and some portion of the land can harvest to almost 90-100 bags.
“Naa ta’y 360,000 bags sa atong warehouses diri sa Davao City, karong adlawa naa nidungo run na imported rice para sa government, 320,000 of Thailand rice( We have 360,00 bags in our warehouse here in Davao City. Today, there is a shipment that has brought 320,000 bags of imported rice from Thailand),” Alerta said.
On 2015, Alerta added that a total of 1.1 million bags of rice were imported from Vietnam.
Davao City has two sources of imported rice: Vietnam and Thailand, he said.
He also confirmed that the city’s consumption of rice reached to almost 10,300 bags daily.
Alerta assured that the NFA personnel monitor their retailers to only limit their consumer up to five kilos of rice daily.
“Based on our distribution, kani atong bugas karon mulungtad pani ug Oktobre o Nobyembre (our rice will last until October or November),” Alerta said.
Citing reports from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Sciences Administration (Pagasa) that the drought will only last until May this year, Alerta added that by then there will be harvest already after a planting season.
Alerta said that regardless of El Niño phenomenon, there are other varieties of rice plants that can resist the phenomenon and these were introduced by the Department of Agriculture (DOA).
“Kasagaran ang ginatanom man gud karon sa farmers kay kaning 160 na variety, ug F1 na variety nga dako iyang yield unya ginahatag ug maayo na presyo (Farmers usually plant the 160 variety of rice and F1 that has a big yield and good price),” Alerta said.(davaotoday.com)
