The Capitol’s various rice-reliant programs have received some boost after the National Food Authority in Central Visayas (NFA 7) announced that it will be allocating at least 36,000 sacks of rice monthly for sale to the Cebu Provincial Government.
During his courtesy visit on February 3, NFA 7 Acting Regional Manager Ovelito Baritua informed Gov. Gwen Garcia that the agency can now provide such number of sacks of rice per month, following the declaration of a national food crisis by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. declared a food security emergency on rice due to an “extraordinary” spike in rice prices in the country. This allows NFA to release rice buffer stocks to stabilize prices and ensure that rice, a staple food for millions of Filipinos, remains accessible to consumers, Sec. Laurel said in a statement.
Baritua said the rice allocation for Cebu Province is available as early as middle of this month.
For the Capitol, this will greatly help in its implementation of rice-reliant programs, such as the Sugbo School Feeding program, which provides one hot meal every day there are classes to all of Cebu’s almost-a-million enrolled students in public schools.
There is also the Sugbo Merkadong Barato, which allows indigents to buy cheaper rice from their city or municipal halls; and the Bugasan sa Kababayen-an sa Barangay, which utilizes the women’s groups in the barangays in selling cheaper rice to their neighbors.
Even before the declaration of the food emergency, the Cebu Provincial Government has been an advocate of more affordable rice for its constituents, shelling out millions from its resources in order to be able to procure rice (both from the NFA and from private suppliers) and to sell the same to the Cebuanos at cheaper rates, thereby incurring losses and deficits in the process. | BJR
