NFA Negros Occidental provincial manager Epifanio Cosca said that currently they have 15,000 bags of rice and 5,000 bags of palay in their storage facility.
Cosca said they also intend to buy additional 170,000 bags more to augment their current stock and more supplies are coming to the province
“We are preparing for the main crop (season) probably by the last week of August and we are campaigning especially to the farmers cooperative and organizations (for the purchase of palay and rice),” he said.
Cosca also said that there is no problem as to the budget because the agency is willing to buy good quality palays from the local farmers.
The official said they will continue to heed to their mandate of ensuring food security.
Cosca recently met with Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and he reassured the latter of the sufficient supply of rice in the province.
Lacson earlier said that the looming global food crisis is something “that we should address.”
The governor said that he already sounded off the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist on their recommendations and emphasized his commitment to do his best to avoid the food shortage in the province.
“This is not only in Negros Occidental but worldwide and these are difficult times that we are about to face and we are already facing,” he stressed.
He also admitted that Negros cannot totally say it is 100 percent self-sufficient in terms of food production.*