The National Food Authority in Negros Occidental has set up six buying stations and a mobile-palay buying station for farmers to sell their produce in more accessible areas, Cynthia Luz Chua, NFA senior grains operations officer, said yesterday.

The buying stations are at the Gequillana Warehouse in Ilog, Sanson Warehouse and JJ Warehouse in Bacolod City, Napro Warehouse in San Carlos City, Municipal Level Grains Center in Valladolid, and Gil Montilla Multipurpose Cooperative in Sipalay City, and a mobile team that will travel north to south of Negros, Chua said.

Gequillana Warehouse will serve farmers from the cities of Kabankalan, Sipalay, Himamaylan, and the towns of Binalbagan, Ilog, Candoni, Cauayan, and Hinobaan while Sanson Warehouse will cater to farmers from the towns of Hinigaran, San Enrique, Moises Padilla, La Castellana, and La Carlota City, she said.

Farmers from San Enrique, Pulupandan, Valladolid, and Bago City can sell their palay at JJ Warehouse while Napro Warehouse will cater to farmers from San Carlos City, Calatrava, and places in Northern Negros. MLGC and Gil Montilla warehouses will serve farmers in Southern and Central Negros, Chua added.

NFA only buys clean and dry palay with 14 percent moisture content at P17.40 and P17.70 per kilo for individual farmers and farmers' cooperative, respectively, Chua said.

She said NFA is now accepting walk-in farmers to sell their produce at a maximum of 200 bags.

Meanwhile, Chua also encouraged individual farmers and farmers' cooperative to secure their NFA passbook.

Individual farmers must present certification from their barangay captain, municipal agriculture office, National Irrigation Association, or from Department of Agrarian Reform indicating hectares of land planted with corn or palay. The certificate must also contain the yield produced per hectare and whether it is irrigated or rained fed, she said.

Farmers' cooperatives, associations and groups need to present their Security and Exchange Commission or Cooperative Development Authority registration certificates. They must also provide the list of their members certified by the local MAO, Chua also said.

NFA is also conducting information campaign on palay procurement today at Payao, Binalbagan and at Bago City on Sept. 4 encouraging farmers to sell their produce to NFA and explain to them how to get and use their incentives, she added.*LTG

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