National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro are reportedly holding hundreds of thousands of sacks of unmilled palay, some of which have been stored for up to two years, even as the Department of Agriculture has declared a food security emergency due to high rice prices.
Gemma Tabian, a rice farmer, said that farmers are struggling to find buyers for their newly harvested rice because NFA warehouses are already full. She told ABS-CBN that some palay has rotted or been sold at drastically reduced prices, forcing some farmers to keep their harvest for personal consumption.
The Manila Standard has reached out to the DA for comment but received no response as of press time.
NFA San Jose Branch Manager Elimar Regindin acknowledged the large stockpile, confirming 612,000 sacks of palay in storage, though he claimed only 10,000 sacks are two years old, with the majority being around six months old.
He stated that the NFA milled 73,000 bags of rice last year, suggesting much of the stored palay has already been processed. Regindin also denied reports of rotting palay, citing regular inspections.
The primary obstacle to processing the stored palay appears to be a lack of milling contracts. Regindin explained that the mandated 63% guaranteed milling recovery (GMR) rate, coupled with low rice bran prices due to the African Swine Fever pandemic, makes the deals unprofitable for millers.
He stated that they have been bidding out milling contracts, but have received no bids. Vice Governor Diana Apigo-Tayag has appealed to local millers to participate in future bidding rounds.
Regindin, who has been branch manager for less than three months, is investigating why the palay was left unmilled in the first place. He warned that if no millers come forward, there will be no space to store the upcoming harvest, as the current NFA storage capacity is only a little over 141,000 sacks.
The situation leaves local farmers in a precarious position and threatens to exacerbate the existing food security issues.