A research and policy advocacy group has called on the National Food Authority (NFA) to step up its procurement of palay (unmilled rice) and on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to quickly disburse money from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. The group, Action for Economic Reforms (AER), urged details on the Philippine Rice Information System and Rice Fund Impact Monitoring System on the websites of the DA and the Philippine Rice Research Institute to show transparency in the price movements of local palay, whose farmgate prices having been falling. “The data, complemented by statistics from the Philippine Statistics Authority can further guide the DA’s Rice Program implementers, as well as rice farmers’ organizations in targeting where, say postharvest facilities like solar dryers, should be poured in and where palay procurement by the National Food Authority and local governments can be focused,” AER President Jessica Reyes-Cantos said in a statement. Such information, she added, would also guide community-based organizations partnering with DA regional officials to monitor fund utilization and the impact of different productivity and competitiveness enhancement programs.
