President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government is providing substantial support to the agriculture sector with a P113 billion funding for its programs, including the provision of affordable rice throughout the country.
Marcos said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday the funding should improve and enhance the different programs of the DA, including the P20/kilo rice program, which he said should reach all the KADIWA retail outlets all over the country.
“And because we are allotting P113 billion to strengthen various programs of the Department of Agriculture, we can now launch this (rice program) nationwide through hundreds of KADIWA stores and centers in different local government units,” the president said in Filipino.
“To those who are asking where the P20 per kilo rice is now, here’s my response. We have proven that we can sell the P20-per-kilo rice without making the farmers lose profits. Just recently, we successfully launched the P20-per-kilo rice in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in places such as San Juan, Pangasinan, Cavite, Occidental Mindoro, in Cebu, Bacolod, Guimaras, Siquijor and Davao del Sur, Marcos said.
The president also warned traders planning to disrupt the plan that economic sabotage cases will be slapped against them.
“I warn traders who will try to manipulate the price of palay and rice or those who want to cheat farmers. We will go after you, because we will consider what you are doing as economic sabotage,” he said.
Currently, the P20/kilo rice is available for sale in KADIWA outlets to vulnerable sectors such as solo parents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, indigent families under the government’s conditional cash transfer program called the Pamilyang Pilipino Pantawid Program or 4Ps, the Walang Gutom Program beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and minimum wage earners identified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and participating private companies.
Based on the DA’s last count on July 16, the government has been selling the P20/kilo rice in 162 locations, mostly Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets and local government units’ buildings nationwide.
Pork supply stability
Meanwhile, Marcos said that in order to pull down prices of pork, the government has been improving local production through various forms of assistance to animal raisers and by setting up biosecured animal raising facilities.
He added that the trial vaccination of hogs against the African Swine Fever (ASF) has been ongoing and that DA officials have been working to make a nationwide inoculation happen.
Earlier in 2025, the DA said that the Bureau of Animal Industry has been banking on the positive results of the ASF vaccine trials to convince the FDA to allow the commercial use of the vaccine soon.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region as of Friday, July 25, the prevailing price of pork ham ranged from P340 to P440 per kg; pork belly from P400 to P480 per kg; frozen kasim from P240 to P290 per kg; and frozen liempo from P290 to P380.
Invest in agriculture
Marcos appealed to the private sector to invest in agriculture. “Mamuhunan kayo sa ating agrikultura (Invest in our agriculture),” he said.
“Our cavalcade of dependable and hardworking Filipinos, innately skilled, adaptable, and possessed with a heart for service, are here, ready to work and to succeed with you,” Marcos said.
He said that in his administration, almost 8.5 million farmers and fisherfolk have received various forms of government aid, on top of new farm-to-market roads, farm irrigation services, farm machinery, agricultural facilities and fiberglass boats.
The president added that the government will continue to aid coconut farmers, especially with the planned planting of 15 million new coconut trees annually or a total of 100 million new trees in the entire country.
The DA earlier set a goal to raise coconut yields to at least 60 coconuts per tree per year, from the current yield of 40 nuts annually from mostly aging or senile trees.
“And to fully revitalize the coconut industry, we will ask Congress to amend the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, so that it is more suited to the needs of our farmers. This is just part of our extensive efforts to strengthen various other industries, including the salt industry, processing, and coconut exports,” Marcos added.
