00:00The lack of rice for drying is one of the challenges of the NFA
00:05that continues to buy rice reserves that are needed, especially for salanina.
00:11Bernadette Reyes is on fire.
00:16This farm is submerged in water in San Ildefonso, Bulacan,
00:19but there are still many plants to be planted.
00:22It's hard. The water is a bit deep.
00:24But when it's dry like that, it's okay.
00:27It will grow.
00:28I don't want to eat rice.
00:29The rain is hard even for the farmers because the rice is wet.
00:33It's still wet.
00:35It's around 10 p.m. and it's already dry.
00:36There are a lot of harvests.
00:38It's the rainy season, but the NFA needs to buy 72,000 bags of rice.
00:43The NFA's warehouse here in San Ildefonso, Bulacan,
00:46is filled with rice that can be used in times of calamity.
00:51The 136,000 metric tons of rice that the NFA bought
00:55is estimated to be enough for four days for the entire country.
00:59It's less than half of the target,
01:01which is 495,000 metric tons of rice,
01:04which should be enough for a day.
01:06But it shouldn't be left to chance,
01:07especially since more than 60% of the rice is bought during the rainy season.
01:12This is also a time when rice is in high demand.
01:14We're not being flooded by a typhoon that will flood the entire Philippines.
01:18We're just buying good rice.
01:19The NFA is just a buffer for calamity.
01:24The NFA's continued purchase of rice
01:26is a chance for farmers to sell their rice at a good price.
01:31If you compare it to a trader's price,
01:34it's just one peso higher.
01:37That's a big deal because it adds to the cost of buying corn,
01:41buying rice, and buying the chemicals that will be used in the fields.
01:45The only problem with the rainy season
01:47is the lack of machines to dry the rice.
01:50My instructions to all the regional offices of the NFA
01:54is to look for drying facilities that we can contract
01:58so that we can bring wet rice.
02:01For GMA Integrated News,
02:04Bernadette Reyes, Nakatuto, 24 Hours.
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