President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. gave a marching order to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) to study the proposed establishment of silo or buffer modules for rice and corn.

According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Marcos ordered DA Undersecretary Drusila Bayate and NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco to “look into the feasibility and efficiency of building rice and corn stations modules” during the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) meeting held on Thursday.

“Ibinahagi ng Pangulo ang kahalagahan ng pag-aral sa paggamit ng rice stations at modules para matiyak ang sapat na suplay ng bigas,” PCO said.

Under the said program, the rice and corn modules will be built using a mother-daughter or Hub and Spoke system.

A total of 30 mother stations will be erected nationwide.

“Each mother station will have 10 daughter station modules, which would be built in a 30-kilometer radius away from the main station,” the PCO noted.

The said stations will be used as storage for rice and corn for at least 30 days.

The communications agency said that the proposed silo is in line with the DA’s Food Security Infrastructure Modernization Plan.

The NFA is tapped to guarantee that the rice grain is procured locally and maintain the optimal level of buffer stock at all times.