BUTUAN CITY, Philippines - Due to fear of rice shortage following the devastating effects of the floods that struck the farmlands of thousands of farmers in various areas in the Caraga region in January and February this year, officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) assured Caraganons Friday of enough rice stock as more than 835,000 bags of rice are currently stocked in various warehouses spread all over the region.
The bags of rice do not even include the 107,824 bags of "palay" that are also currently deposited in 14 warehouses strategically located in the four provinces and three cities in the Caraga region, said Region XIII NFA Regional Director Javier P. Lozada Jr.
"We have sufficient stocks of rice and Caraganons have nothing to worry about," Lozada said in an interview.
The region's NFA chief said Agusan del Norte has an available stock of 126,246 bags of rice; Agusan del Sur - 330,229; Surigao del Norte - 254,689 and Surigao del Sur, 127,092.
Majority of the current stocks of rice came from Vietnam and Thailand, he said.
"This is more than enough to feed the needs of Caraganons," Lozada said.
He assured that the supply of rice is expected to increase in the coming months with the onset of the harvest season.
In another development, in a bid to address widespread micronutrient deficiency among children and women, the NFA Caraga region launched on Tuesday here the Iron Fortified Rice or I-Rice program.
Lozada said the objective of the I-Rice program is to create public awareness on the benefits of eating rice enriched with iron and its effects on health.
He said I-rice tastes like ordinary rice when cooked except for the color that turns light grayish - an indication of the presence of iron.
The rice, which is sold nationwide at only P27 per kilo, helps people fight Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), he said.
