The Negros Occidental National Food Authority gained a 300 percent increase in its palay procurement program where from its original 1,000 bags target, the agency bought 3,000 bags and is still counting, provincial NFA manager Procopio Trabajo said yesterday.

The bigger volume of palay procurement by Negros will help the over-all NFA in its score card from the Commission on Good Government Corporation as they are considered a team in this program, he said.

He said palay-buying is on top of the agency's procurement program that protects rice farmers from the overly low price of palay due to abundant supply as it is also pegging the price of P17 per kilogram.

NFA is buying the palay for P17 with incentives of 20 centavos for delivery, 20 centavos for drying and another 30 centavos for cooperative development, he said.

Last year NFA had a zero procurement record due to high palay prices that reached to up to P23, he added.

NFA already has 11 trading posts in the province for its procurement program operations, including a Candoni post that was opened recently to cater to the farmers of the remote southern part of the province, he added.*KDP

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