MANILA (PNA) –- National Food Authority (NFA) officials said on Saturday the rotting rice stocks in some warehouses are not very alarming because they have solved the problem right away.

“More than the spoilage, the bigger problem is on the stocking. Our warehouses are so full,” NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo said.

“Come October, which is the peak harvest season, we will definitely have problems where we will put the rice stocks,” he added.

Earlier, civil society and peasant groups called on the NFA to dispose of its rice stocks within the next two months to prevent unfair competition with the local palay (grains) that will come in during the October-November harvest season.

This move is also expected to help poor farmers avail themselves of cheap rice, especially at this time when the palay producers themselves go to the traders for the rice that they will need for their own consumption.

“The NFA is swimming in rice while the farmers are inundated in loans. Rice as a staple food of Filipinos has been the source of corruption and politicking,” said Jaime Tadeo, president of the National Rice Farmers Council.