The municipality of San Miguel is set to become the site of a major government investment in rice processing after it signed an agreement with the National Food Authority (NFA) to establish a modern facility intended to strengthen palay procurement, post-harvest processing and rice buffer stocks.

The memorandum of understanding was signed Sept. 25, 2026 during the NFA’s 54th anniversary celebration at the agency’s Multi-Purpose Hall along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City.

San Miguel Mayor Ian Gil G. Mendez represented the municipality at the ceremony, which was attended by NFA Administrator Larry R. Lacson, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. and officials from government agencies and other stakeholder institutions.

Lacson is listed as the current NFA administrator in the Department of Agriculture’s directory of officials.

Under the agreement, the municipality will donate a 30,000-square-meter parcel of land in Barangay Tomoc for the project.

The proposed investment is divided into two phases: P100 million for the warehouse in Phase 1 and P250 million for processing equipment in Phase 2, bringing the stated project cost to P350 million.

The agreement will help modernize the NFA’s aging storage and post-harvest infrastructure.

The San Miguel project comes as the NFA is expanding its capacity to buy, dry, mill and store locally produced palay.

The agency has been implementing a multibillion-peso modernization program involving new warehouses, rice mills, dryers and other post-harvest facilities.

The Department of Agriculture said the program is intended to reduce post-harvest losses, improve rice recovery and allow the NFA to procure more palay from farmers.

In July, for example, the NFA inaugurated a P355.4 million modernized grains facility in Dumangas, Iloilo, equipped with a 10-ton-per-hour rice mill and a mechanical dryer capable of processing 240 tons of grain a day.

The DA described the facility as part of a nationwide effort to strengthen rice buffer stocks and reduce post-harvest losses.

The government said in July that 36 modern rice processing facilities were being built nationwide, with half expected to become operational during the wet season and the remainder before the following dry-season harvest.

The program is important because the NFA’s ability to purchase and process palay directly affects its capacity to maintain government rice reserves.