Philippines Increases Support Price For Paddy

In order to counter the sharp increases in production costs, the Philippine National Food Authority, or NFA, has decided to increase its buying support price for paddy rice by 10% to PHP11 a kilogram with immediate effect.

The NFA also provides an additional incentive of PHP0.50/kg for farmers who are members of cooperatives. Last year, the NFA bought a total of 74 million kgs under its price support program, which is intended to boost farmers' income.
 
Philippine paddy rice output between January-December this year is projected to rise 5% to 16.2 million MT.