DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SETS RICE IMPORTS FOR BUFFER STOCK

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has set the importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as buffer stock in the lean months .

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said that the government trading arm, the Philippine International Trading Corp. has officially opened the government-to-government rice importation with Myanmar,Vietnam, Thailand, Indica and Cambodia.

Dar, who is the chairperson of the IATF Task Group on Food Security said the buffer stock is to ensure that the country has enough rice during the lean months before the rice harvest especially in this time of the Covid 19 pandemic.

From January 1 to May 1, 2020, the Philippines has contracted 666,480 MT of rice from Vietnam, of which 218,300 MT has been delivered, leaving a balance of 448,180 MT, according to the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) that issues the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC) for rice imports.