The government was urged Monday to keep the National Food Authority (NFA) instead of abolishing it as it can be transformed into an economically viable state firm while fulfilling its primary mandate to pursue food security and stabilize the price and supply of rice.

The NFA can tap various methods to convert itself from a money-losing venture into a profitable agency, such as running a grains exchange market and investing its funds in financial instruments, Forensic Law and Policy Strategies, Inc., said.

And in support of President Aquino’s personal push for public-private sector partnerships as the way to tap private funds for big public infrastructure projects, the NFA can partner with private groups in the cultivation of lands for farm production or even let the private sector handle rice imports.

“The abolition of the NFA is a non-responsive solution to the impending food crisis. It will not help alleviate the rice shortage, and will ultimately prove to be a disservice to the common Filipino who rely on the low-priced commodities offered by NFA,” former Justice SecretaryAlberto Agra, head of Forensic Solutions, said in a policy paper titled “A Grain of Hope for NFA,” which he co-authored with former State Solicitor Lally Ortilla Mallari.

The NFA was not created as a money-making enterprise for the government, but as an agency designed to promote the growth and development of the domestic grains industry, they pointed out.

The NFA, which was formerly known as the National Grains Authority, was created in 1972 through Presidential Decree No. 4 under the framework of the 1935 Constitution. PD 4 did not specify profitability as among NFA’s primary goals.

It was only under the 1987 Constitution that the concept of “economic viability” was introduced as among the parameters for measuring the performance of GOCCs. The late Blas Ople, who was then a commissioner of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, introduced, this concept to restrain future GOCCs from escaping the responsibility of meeting the market test for viability.

The NFA, it was suggested, can explore the following income-generating opportunities to become economically viable:

• Imposition and collection of fees on its institutional functions of regulation and licensing.

• Investment of funds or other assets in securities, stocks, bonds, and other secured collateral.

• Establishment of a Grains Exchange.

• Engagement of technical services in the development, cultivation, or operation of NFA’s lands devoted to production of rice, corn, and other grains.

They noted that while the NFA has been given the critical tasks of ensuring food security and keeping the prices and supply of rice stable, it does not have control over farm production. Thus it often has no choice but to sell rice imports at a loss to fulfill its primary mandate of stabilizing riceprices and supply.