Managing the country’s rice inventory is a serious job. Consumed by all Filipinos, rice is a precious commodity and price-sensitive, and its supply should be handled with utmost care.
The state-owned National Food Authority is vested with the responsibility to assure that the rice stock is ample to stabilize prices. If the inventory drops below comfortable levels, the NFA must address the situation right away. It must import the commodity quickly to avert panic among the consumers. It should see to to it that rice supply is always sufficient by building a comfortable inventory to ward off speculators.
But the NFA did the opposite, telling the public in a press statement that the Philippines had a rice shortage. The statement, actually an admission of inefficiency, caused commercial rice prices to spike and the public to panic.
Senators the other day called for the resignation of administrator Jason Laureano Aquino to quit his post for failing to do his job in securing the buffer stock of NFA rice.
Senators Grace Poe and Senator Bam Aquino IV both want Aquino to resign for his inefficiency that they claimed has prejudiced the consumers, especially the poor buyers. The statement attributed to the NFA in February did the damage. The NFA admitted that its buffer stocks of cheap rice were running low, or just 1.7 days against the mandated 15-day inventory at any given time and 30 days at the onset of the lean months of July to September. The price of rice sold by the NFA as a result jumped from P27 a kilo to P42 to P45 last month.
The NFA clearly is not doing its job of securing rice supply and stabilizing the commodity’s price. Its admission of thinning reserves is downright irresponsible and created a confusion in the market. Unscrupulous traders naturally took advantage of the situation by hiking their prices.
A responsible NFA administrator must plan and see in advance in managing the country’s rice inventory. There is little room for error in handling the rice stock. A judgment error will immediately send the consuming public in panic and force them to vent their ire on the government.