MANILA — The country will not be short of rice supply even during La Nina, the National Food Authority (NFA) said Tuesday.
In a televised briefing, NFA officer in charge Director Larry Lacson said the agency has secured enough supply for the next months.

"Pagdating naman dito sa La Niña ‘no, iyong stocks natin ay enough and at the same time, mayroon na rin po tayong mga naibigay sa DSWD na nag-prepositioning na po sila, so marami na po tayong naibigay doon. And at the same time, sa mga LGUs na nakahingi rin po due to El Niño, nabigyan na po natin sila diyan," Lacson said.

"Ang stocks naman po ng bigas o iyong supply ng bigas sa Pilipinas, marami naman talaga na nasa private sector, nasa household, so wala po tayong nakikitang hindi sasapat ang ating supply. At ang ating buffer stock ay nasa tamang ano naman po siya, stock level," he added.

The agency was able to triple its volume of stocks after implementing a "flexible pricing scheme" that allows it to buy palay based on the province's prevailing farmgate price.

Out of its target of 300,000 metric tons of buffer stock for this year, NFA said it already secured 126,000.

"Dahil sa ganda ng presyo na pagbili ng palay ni NFA, medyo nakapamili tayo ng halos … nasa 2.8 mahigit milyon na bags of palay ang ating nabili. So, that at saka iyong mga current stocks natin, iyong total, so halos nagtriple or more than triple ang ating stocks," Lacson said.