MikeLigalig.com

SP commends NFA for auction sale of imported rice

By Rose Palacio
Davao City (23 June 2005) -- City Councilor Pilar Braga, city council chair on trade and industry filed a resolution Tuesday during its regular session commending the National Food Authority (NFA) for successfully conducting an auction sale of imported Vietnam rice on April 26 and June 6 this year here in Davao City.

The NFA was tapped to facilitate the shipment into the country of the private's rice import volume and to sell them directly through auction after the national government earlier has authorized the private sector to import rice at a certain volume.

The auction was supposed to be conducted at the NFA central office but with the request of some Davao City grain traders owing to the high costs of going to Manila, the volume was distributed to Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao areas.

The first auction sale with a volume of 250,000 rice bags was conducted April 26 at NFA Davao City. Participants included NFA licensed retailers and wholesalers or millers as well as farmers' organizations in the region.

The second auction was conducted June 6 also at NFA Davao City with a volume of 200,000 bags for Regions 11 and 12 and for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The rice auction in the Davao areas helped the private sector increase the supply of commercial rice in the region and in Mindanao.

The participation of the private sector in the rice importation activity also influenced in stabilizing the prevailing prices in the market, particularly in pulling down the price of commercial rice for the benefit of the consumers, Councilor Braga said.

She said the rice auction has made the consumers assured of sufficient rice supply not only of the government's NFA rice but also of commercial rice, and that the sufficient supply of rice in the market has helped prevent any attempt of rice hoarding.

Councilor Braga said the action has given farmers in Mindanao area particularly in Davao City the opportunity of earning their major source of livelihood during the lean months while waiting for the next planting, helped change them from mere rice producers to real rice entrepreneurs. (PIA-Rpalacio)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=86574.0