The National Food Authority said Friday it bought 2 million bags of palay, or paddy rice, from farmers in September, representing 40.5 percent of the total local purchases since January this year.
NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal assured rice farmers the agency would continue to buy their harvest at P19 per kilogram.
The agency issued special instructions to field officials to be more aggressive in their palay buying activities and come up with innovative ways to serve as many farmers as possible.
NFA’s palay procurement averaged 90,012 bags daily in September.
The NFA noted that Region II or Cagayan Valley recorded the highest palay sold with 505,440 bags. It was followed by Western Visayas with 318,383 bags; Central Mindanao with 298,665 bags; Southern Tagalog with 121,910 bags and Bicol Region with 100,714 bags.
