San
Juan, La Union—Buying price of palay in the
region continues to record high farm gate price even as harvest season for the
summer cropping season has reached its peak. And this is pleasant news to palay
farmers.
For Isidro Bacani and Alejo
Abat of Bucao, San Gabriel, La Union, the buying price of P23 per kilogram
which traders buy their produce is just enough for them to have a good return
of their investment. They said that the said amount compensates the rise in
farm inputs including seeds, fertilizers and even wage for farm helpers which
they pay from the preparation of the farm until the harvest of their produce.
The same is true for Julita
Coloma of Naguirangan, San Juan, La Union who is hopeful that the present
buying price of palay will continue for farmers like her to have better returns
citing also rising cost of production.
The National Food Authority
here reported that based on their monitoring, dry palay’s buying price remains
at a low of P22 per kilogram to a high of P23 per kilogram. National Food
Authority regional director Carlito G. Co said that he doesn’t see any easing
up in the buying price as rice traders continue to compete with each other to
buy as many stocks of palay as they can.
“The buying price is still
high at this time when harvest season have peaked. Usually this should have
been on the downtrend as fresh harvest starts to come in. But the high price of
commercial rice in the market drives the traders to compete to corner a big
volume of the harvest for their inventory, hence, the unusual high price of
palay being enjoyed by the farmers”. This bode well for our farmers as this
would translate better income from their investment”, Mr. Co said.
“Our farmers invest a lot in
planting the crop until it is harvested. So when the buying price of palay is
high, they expect to have a good return in their investment. At P23.50 per
kilogram, a 50 kilogram sack of palay will fetch at P1,175. This is definitely
very good news to our farmers. If such trend continues, we expect more and more
farmers to be planting palay which is good for our goal of achieving rice
self-sufficiency level”, the director added.
(NFA)
Comments
Post a Comment