The National Food Authority (NFA) Council said it had allowed the sale of aging rice stocks at a price lower than the mandated price following Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.'s order to investigate alleged improper rice sales.

The NFA Council said the disposal of aging rice stocks by up to 10 percent lower than the mandated price of P22.50 to P25.00 per kilo while damaged stocks by at least P6.50 per kilo.

This is part of its mandate to keep and dispose of 99.9 percent of stocks in good and consumable condition.

"The current NFA management was able to responsibly dispose its rice stocks to government accounts by stretching to maximum shelf-life, minimizing the sale of residual volume to other accounts by implementing stricter guidelines and safeguards," NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco said in a statement on Wednesday.

Bioco said that the agency normally buys most of the country's buffer stock during the wet season (September-November) when there is downward pressure on palay (unmilled rice) prices.

"But prices of palay in the recent croppings were way above the maximum price NFA is allowed. That hinders NFA's ability to raise its buffer stock. Prevailing palay prices on clean and dry basis were P25-30 per kilo vs NFA P23 per kilo," he said.

"The rice we are selling are all sold at the mandated selling price of P25 per kilo, although aging stocks need to be remilled before they can be released to the consumers," the official added.

Freshly milled stocks, meanwhile, are reserved for calamity relief distribution, and leftovers shall be "disposed of for inventory management purpose."

Moreover, Bioco said that the NFA plans to implement a "contract growing" scheme to require farmers who received DA assistance to sell 10 percent of their produce to NFA at the guaranteed price of P23 per kilo.

Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel ordered a probe into the allegation that the NFA sold thousands of tons of rice to certain traders at a price disadvantageous to the government.

"We do not brush aside reports of impropriety against officials of the Department of Agriculture, regardless of the source. We also welcome any government agency who may wish to conduct their own probe to ferret out the truth," he said.

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