The National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday said it is expanding its warehouse capacity in Tarlac as the agency intensifies its palay (unhusked rice) procurement amid the wet harvest season.

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary and NFA Council chairperson Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the supplementary storage is critical to ensure reasonable buying prices for palay farmers.

“Every additional warehouse space gives us more room to buy palay from our farmers at reasonable prices,” he said.

Under the flexible Price Range Scheme (PRICERS), the current price is pegged at PHP27 per kilogram of clean and dry palay, and PHP22 per kg for wet and fresh palay.

In particular, the NFA is leasing 1,782 square meters of warehouse space from SL Agritech Corporation in Barangay Masalasa, Victoria, Tarlac, with target occupancy set for Oct. 1.

This additional storage capacity may give room for about 100,000 bags of palay.

“We want the NFA to have the capacity to absorb more of the harvest while ensuring that farmers have a ready market for their produce,” Tiu Laurel said.

The proposed SL Agritech lease can also serve an estimated 874 farmers in Victoria and nearby municipalities.

For his part, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the grains agency is rolling out efforts to maximize storage capacity, including the renting of facilities.

“With the additional rented warehouses and the space we freed from our storage facilities by clearing our existing inventory, we are looking at buying as much as 500,000 metric tons of palay,” he said.

The volume is eyed to be procured nationwide within the wet harvest season, despite the nearing “very strong” El Niño, as part of the continuous support to Filipino rice producers and procurement to secure the 15-day national rice buffer stock.

The additional procurement capacity will also support the Marcos administration’s PHP20 per kilogram rice program under the Benteng Bigas Meron (BBM) Na!

Victoria is Tarlac’s second-largest palay-producing municipality.

The town recorded 45,642.85 metric tons (MT) of palay production during the 2026 main crop, while the province-wide production reached 445,553.50 MT.

To date, the NFA’s current absorption rate in Tarlac is only 4.30 percent.

The warehouse forms part of a 3,382-square-meter facility with an effective capacity of about 166,000 bags.

It has a rice mill, five mechanical dryers, a conveyor and a truck scale, allowing palay to be received, dried, and stored within the same site.

SL Agritech Corp. operates a 10,000-metric-ton rice mill and three production hubs.

The company is also engaged in hybrid rice seed development, production and distribution, as well as rice grain trading and milling. (PNA)