'TAGPUAN' OUTLET. Some of the indigent residents of Barangay Banago in Bacolod City buying up to two kilograms of NFA rice each from the 'tagpuan' outlet set up in front of the barangay hall on Thursday (September 13, 2018). (Photo by Erwin P. Nicavera)
BACOLOD CITY -- The National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental has launched the “Tagpuan Rice Response Delivery Program” in three villages in Bacolod City to bring cheaper government rice closer to the marginalized sector.
On Thursday, about 500 indigent residents of Barangay Banago were able to buy up to 2 kg. of NFA rice each from the “tagpuan” outlet set up in front of the barangay hall. Each kilogram of NFA rice costs only PHP27.
NFA-Negros Occidental provincial manager Frisco Canoy said at the launch in Barangay Banago that they aim to make government rice more accessible to the poor.
“We want mainly the marginalized sector to benefit from this program by providing them more access to cheaper rice of the government,” he said.
Aside from Banago, the two other “tagpuan” areas in Bacolod are in Barangay Sum-ag, which began on Sept. 4, and in Barangay Granada, which opened on September 12.
According to the NFA, "tagpuan” is a place where people would usually converge, such as markets and barangay halls.
Canoy said the program, being implemented in collaboration with the Grains Retailers Confederation (Grecon), seeks to bring NFA rice to areas where it is needed most.
Two of the beneficiaries in Banago were Shirley Gantala, 59, and Florita Mailum, 49, who said the “Tagpuan” program is a big help for them who can hardly afford commercial rice, which now costs up to PHP58 per kg.
“We hope the NFA would make the PHP27 per kg. rice available in our barangay more often or increase the allowable volume we can purchase,” Mailum added.
Canoy said with the current available buffer stocks of NFA rice in Negros Occidental, they can provide only a maximum of 20 bags for every “tagpuan” outlet.
As of Thursday’s inventory of NFA-Negros Occidental, there were almost 16,000 bags of remaining stocks out of the 80,000 bags that arrived in July.
Canoy added the “tagpuan” selling is held only once a week given the limited inventory of NFA rice while the additional 130,000 bags of import allocation for the province has yet to arrive.
“We want to sustain the program even just once a week. It would really help the consumers as they will also no longer spend for transport fare going to the market,” he said. (PNA)
