CEBU CITY – An official from the Region 7 office of the National Food Authority (NFA) has announced that Central Visayas will have sufficient and adequate rice supply for the Yuletide season despite the fact that the region has only one rice production site.

Ma. Lucy Rosales, designated Information Officer for NFA 7, assured the public during a recent forum here that the region has an adequate supply of rice until at least early next year, and that prices will remain stable.

“Our stock houses are full,” she said, “and, in fact, our latest inventory shows that we have around 1.4 million bags of rice which, based on the region’s average consumption, will be enough for more than three months.”

Rosales explained that with the region’s average daily consumption of 30,000 bags of rice, the current supply will last until early next year, in time for the arrival of new rice importation.

Further, the NFA7 official said that the agency will also supply rice in Samar province, as NFA7 serves as the Visayas rice depot due to ports availability.

She added that the bulk of the region’s rice supplies are imports from Thailand and Vietnam as well as from rice production sites in Luzon.

Rosales also said that the supply of corn, as well, is also stable in the region.

She admitted that even if the country has a deficit in rice production, the NFA has already come up with precautionary measures to prevent the repeat of the rice shortage scenario which happened last year.

Rosales reminded the public to be vigilant in purchasing NFA rice, as reports on over-pricing continues to be the agency’s main problem.