Samar town exceeds palay buying target amid health crisis

THE LOCAL government unit of Arteche, Eastern Samar has already exceeded its target volume for the buying of locally-harvested rice from farmers in their town to boost its food supply during the health crisis.   

Mayor Roland Boie Evardone said in a phone interview on Wednesday that as of April 20, the local government has already bought 61,958 kilograms of palay (unhusked rice) from local farmers, more than its 50,000 kilograms target.

The local government buys palay at PHP15 per kilogram for newly harvested rice and PHP18 per kilogram for the dried ones.

This is part of the local government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) intervention to help both the vulnerable families and local farmers as well.

The official said the initiative is timely since this is the harvest season of rice farms in their town.

Many rice farmers, according to Evardone, opted to sell their produce to the local government since our trading price is PHP10 higher than those offered by private traders. For each sack of palay (50 kilograms), a farmer earns PHP750 to PHP900.

“Buying palay from rice farmers may be more expensive than buying it from the National Food Authority but our intention is not only to help local farmers earn as we face a health crisis, but also ensure that residents affected by movement restrictions have food on their table,” Evardone added.

The local government bought the unhusked rice and milled it for distribution to 4,503 poor families. Fresh vegetables are also included in the relief packs.

“This came out because of the difficulty in transporting goods due to enhanced community quarantine and border checkpoints in different towns,” Evardone said.

The mayor also noted the supply of canned goods in the town is about to be depleted due to travel restrictions.

“We have been coordinating with the vegetable farmers in our town to check the available supply that we can give as relief goods,” he added.

Arteche town remains Covid-19 free and they are upbeat on keeping that status by enforcing local ordinances meant to protect residents from the deadly virus.

Among the directive is the mandatory wearing of face mask outdoors and liquor ban. Offenders will be fine with PHP500.

Located in the northeastern part of Eastern Samar province, Arteche is a fifth-class town near the boundary of Northern Samar province.

The entry to the north has been closed after the provincial government of Eastern Samar ordered the closure of all its borders to non-residents, except those delivering basic and essential needs. (By Roel Amazona)