TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 28 (PIA) -- There is no need for panic buying.
This was the assurance from the National Food Authority (NFA) through Information Officer Joel Lim and NFA Manager Maria Fe Evasco during the weekly PIA Bohol Kapihan sa PIA over DyTR.
"We would like to assure all Boholanos that your NFA is on top of the situation," Lim said.
He explained that NFA does not own the biggest bulk of buffer stocks for Bohol as these are being stockpiled by commercial traders and the households here.
Lim assured that their share of stocks, given the normal demand for NFA rice, is sufficient enough until the next shipment of 40,000 bags arrive.
“As long as we continue consuming what is our regular consumption, we still have more than enough,” Evasco explained.
However, with local governments aggressively buying rice to give them to their barangays, this will surely deplete the NFA resources, Gov. Arthur Yap warned during his weekly presser Friday.
Yap said not only will this deplete rice sources here, this will also drive the prices up.
At the same radio forum, Evasco said NFA Bohol has 26,000 bags in its inventory, having provided 21,000 bags already to congressional offices, provincial, municipal, and barangay governments in their disaster relief operations.
She said NFA has already requested for an additional 40,000 bags, one which by the Rice Tariffication Law has been procured by NFA Mindoro from its farmers and is due to arrive here by next month.
In the meantime, with the prospect of this calamity stretching further, Evasco has urged local governments to taper down on their relief distribution.
The NFA appeal came in the premise that the LGU rice procurement is from the government buffer stocks and not from the commercial and household stockpiles, which have bigger stockpile shares.
On this, authorities have also asked Boholanos to be rice-ponsible.
By being rice-ponsible, authorities urged to reduce rice wastage by getting only rice which they can consume.
The Philippine Statistics Authority bared that Boholanos waste about three spoonfuls of rice per meal or about 25 kilos a year.
Over this, authorities also see the need to return to mixing boiled riced with root crops sinanduloy style, or with other grains sinabugan style.
Rice cooked with camote, cassava, gabi, and ubi apale will help extend the rice supply, which when cooked with corn, also helps extend the rice supply.
The Bohol governor also called Boholanos to sustain, preserve, and conserve what is available amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Should NFA find issues with a late rice shipment, authorities said the harvest season will also bring in rice supply to households and commercial traders. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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