THE government has constructed two new warehouses in Nueva Ecija and are now ready to serve farmers in the country’s top rice-producing province just in time for the harvest season.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar and National Food Authority Administrator Judy Carol Dansal on Wednesday led the inauguration of the warehouses located in the Science City of Munoz and in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

Dar said the event was important and historic for NFA as it starts to modernize with a line-up of infrastructure development projects that will contribute to the competitiveness of the local rice industry.

“In the future, after the consolidation of farms, we will provide more post-harvest facilities such as farm machinery to realize our vision of modernizing the country’s rice industry,” the agri chief said.

The DA is targeting an additional one million metric tons of palay production this year and increase the country’s rice sufficiency level up to 95 percent.

Each warehouse has a capacity of 100,000 sacks and is expected to help intensify NFA’s palay procurement and buffer stocking.

The Muñoz warehouse covers the Science City of Muñoz, San Jose City, Talavera, Lupao, and Caranglan, while the Cabanatuan warehouse covers Cabanatuan City, Sta. Rosa, Palayan City, Zaragoza, Peñaranda, and Laur.

Administrator Dansal said the new warehouses, which are part of the 18 stockbuildings strategically located nationwide, have been funded in 2020 and 2021.

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Joel dela Torre