NFA: El Niño has no effect to Zambo Sur rice supply

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2015/10/12/nfa-el-nino-has-no-effect-zambo-sur-rice-supply-435397
• Monday, October 12, 2015

By Bong Garcia

A TOP official of the National Food Authority (NFA) has assured that there is sufficient supply of rice in the province of Zamboanga del Sur for the duration of the El Niño phenomenon.

Aragasi Pasandalan, the newly installed NFA-Zambonga del Sur provincial manager, said his office has 133,000 bags of rice of 50 kilos each, which is sufficient to serve as buffer stocks.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced that the El Niño phenomenon may intensify during the last quarter of this year and would last until the early part of next year.

Pasandalan said they have also stocks of 11,034 bags of rice produced in Zamboanga del Sur and is set to receive 100,000 bags of imported rice from the NFA central office.

Pasandalan said 15,000 of the 100,000 bags allocation have arrived while the remaining balance of 85,000 sacks is scheduled to arrive before the end of this year.

He noted that the province usually have rice surplus "that is why they is nothing to worry as far as shortage of rice supply is concern."

He said that Philippine Statistics Authority data showed Zamboanga del Sur has 72,365 hectares of land planted to rice.