THE National Food Authority’s (NFA) palay (unmilled rice) procurement has reached 9.1 million metric tons (MT) as of October 31, higher by 2,320 percent from 375,980 MT recorded a year ago, an official of the agency said.

In October alone, the grains agency was able to purchase palay from local farmers reaching 2.1 million MT, up 614 percent from 294,000 MT in October 2018, Lemuel Pagayunan, department manager for NFA Grains Marketing and Operation, told The Manila Times.