More warehouses needed to store rice outside Cebu City — mayor

National Food Authority (NFA) Asst. Regional Director Nestor Alcoseba (standing left) explains why NFA supplies were not delivered to western towns during the Provincial Development Council meeting at the Capitol Social Hall. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

ASTURIAS Mayor Alan Adlawan called on the National Food Authority yesterday to set up warehouses filled with rice stocks outside of Cebu City.

“We have to buy rice from Badian town whose warehouse is in the south or in Cebu City which are far away from us. That’s why it’s so expensive to buy NFA rice,” Adlawan said in yesterday’s Provincial Development Council (PDC) meeting.

NFA Regional Asst. Director Nestor Rey Alcoseba presented to the PDC, their plans of setting up a P41-million warehouse in Cebu City’s North Reclamation Area that can accommodate 165,000 rice stocks.

Adlawan said it had become impractical for Asturias town, which is located 75.7 kilometers away from Cebu City, to buy rice stocks there.

Asturias town is in western Cebu and is 138 kilometers away from Badian town.

“The farther away the warehouse, the more expensive it is for us to transport and distribute it (rice),” Adlawan said.

NFA rice is the cheapest since it is subsidized by the government.

Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado, former national president of the Confederation of Grains Retailers Association of the Philippines Inc. (Grecon), agreed with Adlawan and said NFA should build more warehouses outside of Cebu City.

Aside from Badian town, other NFA-owned warehouses set up outside Cebu City are located in Bantayan Island, Camotes Islands and Bogo City.

Alcoseba said their newest warehouse  is closest to the Cebu International Port (CIP) where rice imports come in.