Negros Oriental Provincial manager Gil Ibarra of the National Food Authority said yesterday that 50 percent of corn-eating Negrenses have shifted to rice, thus, doubling the supply requirement for rice in the province.

Insufficiencies of rice and corn production in the province have resulted in the rush to avail of the imported rice by the NFA, Ibarra said.

Records show that the province produces only 50,000 to 60,000 metric tons of rice annually, but the consumption is 1.5 million bags per year.

Ibarra, however, stressed that the NFA has enough supply of Vietnam and Thailand rice with 28,000 bags to be unloaded at the private wharf in Bacong in the next five days. The delivery of another 48,000 bags as part of the province’ share in the government importation program is also scheduled, he said.

The NFA warehouse has more than 25,000 bags of NFA rice now, Ibarra said.

He reiterated President Gloria Arroyo’s warning against hoarding the commodity. Regular monitoring on different warehouses throughout the province is being conducted, violations of which will mean automatic cancellation of licenses for retail outlets, he said.

There are about 245 retail outlets for NFA rice throughout the province, but only 65 of them are in public markets.

For orderly distribution in the Dumaguete City Public Market, market enterprise officer Jojo Fortin said his office has required retail outlets to provide number cards.

Residents have to wait for long hours queuing, before they can avail of two kilos of NFA rice, some of them waited from 6 a.m. up to late afternoon before the assigned numbers are called, he said.

Irate consumers, however, say commercial rice is too expensive for them, Fortin said.*JG

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