Manila, May 18 -- The National Food Authority (NFA) is now beefing up palay (unhusked rice) procurement after being on the sidelines due to a strong buying approach by private traders in the past months.

NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the agency is now positioning to secure the country's national rice buffer stock following a decline in traders' buying prices in April.

"The NFA has aggressively stepped up palay buying," he said in a statement, citing a shift from earlier months when private traders outpaced the NFA.

From April to the first week of May, the NFA has already procured 11,301 metric tons (MT) of palay.

This is more aggressive than the procured volume since January, when the NFA only hit 4.2 percent of its 313,315 MT t...