National Food Authority (Philippines)

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National Food AuthorityPambansang Pangasiwaan ng Pagkain

Agency overview
Formed| September 26, 1972; 50 years ago (1972-09-26)
Headquarters| Visayas Avenue, Quezon City 1128, Metro Manila, Philippines
Agency executive|

* Judy Carol L. Dansal, Administrator

Parent agency| Department of Agriculture
Website| www.nfa.gov.ph

The Philippines' National Food Authority (Filipino: Pambansang Pangasiwaan ng Pagkain, abbreviated as NFA), is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring the food security of the Philippines and the stability of supply and price of rice, the Philippines' staple grain.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History[edit]

The National Food Authority was created through Presidential Decree No. 4 dated September 26, 1972, under the name National Grains Authority (NGA) with the mission of promoting the integrated growth and development of the grains industry covering rice, corn, feed grains and other grains like sorghum, mung beans, and peanuts. This decree abolished two agencies, namely, the Rice and Corn Board (RICOB) and the Rice and Corn Administration (RCA) and absorbed their respective functions into the NFA. The former was then regulating the rice and corn retail trade and was tasked to nationalize it within a target date. The latter was marketed and distributed government low-priced rice especially during lean months. In addition, the new agency was vested with additional functions aimed at developing post-harvest systems and processes.

Among others, the NGA supported the paddy production program of the government referred to as the Masagana 99 agricultural program, which was geared toward rice self-sufficiency. It engaged in massive paddy procurement at government support prices, and with limited volume, the country joined the family of rice exporting countries from 1977 to 1981. Economists[1] generally acknowledge Masagana 99 to have failed because the supervised credit scheme it offered to farmers proved unsustainable.[1]

On January 14, 1981, Presidential Decree No. 1770 renamed the NGA and established the National Food Authority (NFA), further widening the agency's social responsibilities and commodity coverage to include, in addition to grains, other food items like raw or fresh fruits and vegetables and fish and marine, manufactured, processed, or packaged food products, and these were collectively referred to as non-grains commodities. This law was the basis of the Kadiwa stores or government retail stores, which sold low-priced basic food and household items which were established within the National Capital Region and in all the provinces of the Philippines.

On May 31, 1985, Executive Order No. 1028 provided for the deregulation of NFA's non-grains marketing activities, specifically terminating NFA's non-grains trading activities, returning feed grains and wheat importation to the private sector, and lifting price controls on rice and corn. As such, at the end of 1986, all the Kadiwa Stores had sold or closed.

Today, the National Food Authority is charge with ensuring the food security of the country and the stability of supply and price of the staple grain-rice. It performs these functions through various activities and strategies, which include procurement of paddy from individual farmers and their organizations, buffer stocking, processing activities, dispersal of paddy and milled rice to strategic locations and distribution of the staple grain to various marketing outlets at appropriate times of the year.

In recent years, in response to globalization and to the efforts to reduce the national budget deficit, the government has been looking into the possibility of restructuring, streamlining or privatizing certain activities of the NFA.

On May 5, 2014, Executive Order No. 165 reassigned the National Food Authority and three other agencies to the Office of the President, with oversight responsibilities for the four agencies given to Francis Pangilinan in the newly created post of Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization. Then-NFA administrator Orlan Calayag stepped down in what he described as a "courtesy resignation" so that Pangilinan could appoint his own preferred candidate to head the NFA.[2][3]

On July 4, 2016, NFA was among the 12 agencies, formerly from the Office of the President reassigned to the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, based on Executive Order No. 1 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte.[4] It was restored to the Department of Agriculture, along with the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, by Executive Order No. 62 issued in September 2018.

## See also[edit]

* Food Terminal, Inc.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Esguerra, E.F. (1980). "Some notes on the Masagana 99 [rice] program and small farmer access to credit [Philippines]". Philippine Sociological Review (Philippines). Retrieved September 19, 2017.
2. ^ "President Aquino appoints former Senator Francis Pangilinan as Presidential Assistant for Food Security". Office of the President of the Philippines. May 6, 2014. Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
3. ^ Diega, Alladin S. (May 12, 2014). "Agriculture executives resign after Pangilinan appointment". BusinessMirror. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
4. ^ Ranada, Pia (July 4, 2016). "Duterte's 1st EO: Simpler, faster anti-poverty services". Rappler. Retrieved July 4, 2016.

## External links[edit]

* NFA Philippines homepage

* v
* t
* e

Department of Agriculture, Philippines

Executive Departments of the Philippines

Bureaus|

* Agricultural Training Institute
* Agricultural and Fisheries Product Standards
* Agricultural Research
* Bureau of Animal Industry
* Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
* Plant Industry
* Soils and Water Management

Attached agencies|

* Agricultural Credit and Policy Council
* Livestock Development Council
* National Agricultural and Fishery Council
* National Dairy Authority
* National Fisheries Research and Development Institute
* National Meat Inspection Service
* National Tobacco Administration
* Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation
* Philippine Carabao Center
* Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization
* Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation
* Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority
* Philippine Fisheries Development Authority
* Philippine Rice Research Institute
* Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corporation
* Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
* Sugar Regulatory Administration

See also Ministries of Agriculture by country

Authority control

General|

* VIAF
* 1
* WorldCat

National libraries|

* United States

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