The National Food Authority (NFA) in Bohol continues to sell subsidized rice varieties in the province as the agency is distributing its current imported rice stock to various localities until it is fully depleted.

NFA Bohol still has 14,000 sacks of rice as of Friday last week and 80,000 more sacks are expected to arrive within the year, said the NFA’s spokesperson in the province Joel Lim.

The remaining 14,000 sacks can last to up a month.

According to Lim, the NFA was supposed to stop selling subsidized rice last month.

Through the Rice Tariffication Act, the NFA has been relegated to keeping buffer stock for emergency purposes and buying un-milled rice from farmers, but the agency has to sell its remaining inventories which were acquired before the measure’s enactment in February.

“Naa man tay existing nga imported rice inventories na kinahanglan nato ibaligya kaysa amo rang ipundo unya madaot so ibaligya gihapon siya,” Lim said.

Subsidized rice from the NFA which were imported from Vietnam and Thailand are still being sold at P27 per kilo at authorized retailer outlets.

Lim noted that they have not been informed on whether or not more sacks of rice will be transported to Bohol after the 80,000 sacks are sold.

“Dili pa pud mi ka sure kung naa pa bay laing mosunod after ana. Ang amoa nalang kung unsay existing inventory, mao na lang na siya ang atong e-utilize,” he added.

The NFA still has a supply of 4 million sacks of imported rice which are to be distributed nationwide. (A. Doydora)