“We have six buying stations or warehouses in Laguna – three in San Pablo City, and one each in Calauan, Siniloan, and Pagsanjan wherein farmers can sell their palay at nineteen pesos per kilogram. We have personnel manning each buying station or warehouse to accommodate walk-in farmers who would like to sell their palay,” Mr. Sanchez said.

He added that to date, they have procured a total of 2,024 bags of palay directly from farmers for this year and they will continue to do so as they are intensifying their information dissemination with the help of DA Regional Field Office No. IV-CALABARZON, National Irrigation Administration Region IV-A, and local government units to encourage more farmers to sell their produce to them.

Regional Director Arnel V. de Mesa commended the efforts of NFA Laguna in serving as a viable market for rice farmers and emphasized that this is the time when the government agencies like DA, NFA, and other attached agencies and bureaus must really be felt by the farmers – that they are not alone in their fight to ensure food sufficiency.

Individual farmers and farmers’ cooperatives may sell their dried and clean palay to the nearest NFA buying station/warehouse. Farmers’ cooperatives must secure a Master Passbook containing the list of its members. Those without the said passbook must at least provide proof that they are included in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture from the DA.

Farmers selling their palay to NFA for the first time are allowed to walk in and sell up to 200 bags of 50 kilograms of palay. They only need to fill out and submit a farmer’s information sheet.

For more information, contact NFA hotline 0906 436 3133 or (02) 454 1344. ● (RFL, DA-RAFIS)

[Photos Courtesy of NFA Laguna]