Over 277-T bags of rice inside NFA warehouse damaged
The National Food Authority (NFA) incurred an estimated losses of P271,833,280 after 277,386 bags of imported rice was damaged by Typhoon Frank. Officials ordered its immediate disposal since it is no longer fit for human consumption.
NFA Provincial Manager Hedy Jardeleza said the imported rice came from Vietnam and Thailand. The damaged rice stocks are supposedly alloted for Cagayan de Oro City. It was stored in the NFA warehouse in Tabuc Suba, Jaro pending shipment when typhoon hits Iloilo. The rice stocks were damaged after flood waters entered the NFA warehouse.
The disposal of the flooded rice stocks in two NFA regional warehouses in Iloilo was also concurred by the Government Service Insurance Corporation, its insurer.
The flooded rice stocks is part of the shipment purchased by the government to address the country's rice shortage. The imported rice stocks are being distributed in the public markets, Bigasang Bayan and Tindahan Natin nationwide.
Jardeleza said the damaged rice stocks should be disposed immediately and it is not fit for human consumption. The damaged rice stocks will be replenished by an upcoming shipment from Vietnam and Thailand.
The NFA has enough rice supply as they have 376,696 sacks of imported rice stored in their warehouse. The losses they had with the imported rice will not affect the availability of rice, assured Jardeleza.
Iloilo City and province has a daily rice consumption requirement of 19,760 bags and Western Visayas has still 650,366 sacks of good NFA rice available as of end of June.
Meanwhile, NFA has already released a total of 35,668 bags of rice for the typhoon affected residents with 13,793 bags to Iloilo, 10,113 bags to Negros Occidental, 4,628 bags to Aklan, 4,184 bags to Capiz and 2,950 bags to Antique.
NFA has played a major role in the relief operation after Typhoon Frank struck Western Visayas affecting thousands of families and has destroyed billions of infrastructure projects.
The NFA's immediate response in the disposal of rice stocks was called for by Vice President Noli de Castro during his visit to Iloilo City. The NFA failed to immediately release rice stocks as their warehouses were also hit by flood.