North Cotabato gets initial 10,000 bags of NFA rice

COTABATO CITY – The province of North Cotabato has received an initial of 10,000 bags of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) that is set for distribution to NFA rice retailers in various markets of the province.

This came about after NFA announced that supplies of rice imported from Vietnam will soon hit the market to stabilize prices of the Filipinos’ staple food.

“Our allocation is 40,000 bags and only 10,000 bags have initially arrived. We expect 30,000 bags more in the coming days,” Teresa Herrera, NFA North Cotabato provincial manager told reporters Tuesday.

“We hope this will help stabilize the prices of commercial rice that skyrocketed the past two months,” Herrera said, adding that the NFA rice will be sold at P27–P30 per kilo in NFA accredited retailers.

Herrera is scheduled to meet NFA retailers Wednesday to discuss issues surrounding the rice trading in North Cotabato’s 17 towns and a city.

“I hope I can get more than five sacks a day of NFA rice with the supplies now available,” Erlinda Santos, 45, an NFA rice dealer in Midsayap, North Cotabato, said.

Santos said it has been more than a month that she has only been receiving five sacks a week from NFA. In South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, the provincial NFA offices said it also received 10,000 bags each of rice imported from Vietnam via the Gen. Santos City port. (PNA)