The National Food Authority (NFA) has purchased 200,000 bags of palay in Iloilo province for the month of September.

Pat Espinosa, NFA-Iloilo information officer, said the purchased bags of palay are more than the 130,000 target set by the authority.

“It is good, regardless that we go beyond the target because it means that we have catered to more farmers,” he said in an interview Friday.

The NFA-Iloilo is looking to buy 150,000 bags of palay for October, he said. On October 3, the authority had already bought 29,000 bags.

Espinosa said the NFA continues its mobile buying stations to reach and buy palay from farmers affected by the low palay prices in the different towns in the province.

Mobile buying stations had already visited the towns of Lemery, Lambunao, and Calinog while municipalities of Cabatuan, Tigbauan, and Bingawan are scheduled in the following days.

The NFA prioritizes buying from small farmers, who have not sold their produce to the agency. It can buy a maximum of 200 bags of dry and clean palay from one farmer at PHP19 per kilogram.

A mobile buying station of the NFA can stay in one municipality for a day due to a lack of personnel, he said.

The municipality, however, can request the NFA to repeat their buying activities in their towns.

“In fact, the towns of Lemery and San Enrique were already visited twice,” he said.

The NFA-Iloilo had asked the municipalities to provide them with logistics like “hauling services from their buying station to the NFA” when they request for a mobile buying station in their area.

Espinosa had brought up the matter during the meeting of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Iloilo on Friday at the Provincial Capitol Board Room.

“We had asked the help of the LGU to provide us assistance most especially with the trucking,” he said. (PNA)