URDANETA CITY—The city government has taken steps to protect local consumers in the face of looming food crisis, particularly on rice, Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. said on Tuesday.
Perez met with farmer leaders early Tuesday and appealed to them not to sell all their rice produce so that they have something to eat during the coming lean months from June to September.
He made the appeal knowing the practice of farmers of selling all their produce after the rice harvest season for them to able to but their needs.
Urdaneta is one of the top producers in Pangasinan with farmers planting even third crop rice due to the abundance of irrigation water.
“I told farmers that they better be wiser now as the food crisis has just started,” he said, pointing out the rising cost of commercial rice.
Perez revealed that middlemen are going to the farmers and offering to buy their rice at a high of P19.50 per kilo in order to entice sellers.
At the same time, the mayor asked the National Food Authority to sell rice in six selected barangays here where there are many indigents.
He asked the barangay captains in these villages to identify indigent families to whom NFA will directly sell three kilos of rice each family.
All households here were also encouraged by Perez earlier on to plant any kind of food crops in their backyard or any available land for them to be able as their hedge against the impact of food crisis, particularly on rice.
Perez said it is only by producing their own food crops that marginal families can weather the impending food crisis due to the increasing prices of commodities.
He said the city government is buying hybrid vegetables seeds, in addition to the seeds produced at its own nursery for distribution to all households in the city.
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