The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the government will start the sale of subsidized rice at P20 per kilogram in the Visayas region.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a briefing on Wednesday the move was decided following a closed-door meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and 12 Visayas governors at the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
He did not specify during an online press briefing when the Visayas piloting of the P20/kg rice will start. The DA Information office told reporters that a complete press statement on the matter would be out within the day but none had come as of press time, Wednesday evening.
Tiu Laurel said the government will need about P3.5 to P4.5 billion as subsidy for the program.
“…We’re launching it here because there are more in need here as of the moment, but of course, the eventual intention of this program — once we sort out all the issues logistically to really see how to operate it, launch it and manage it — is eventually nationwide,” Tiu Laurel explained.
DA added that at present, the program will be implemented by allocating a maximum of 10 kg of subsidized rice per week for each family.
Tiu Laurel said the P20/kg rice program was initially supposed to last until December 2025 or February 2026, “but our President has given the directive to the DA to formulate this to be sustainable and continue this until 2028.”
Visayas has been picked as a pilot area because it has plenty of available rice stocks, Tiu Laurel said.
“We have stocks here especially in Iloilo…Then we have to also move out stocks from other areas since that is the other factor that we need to do for the DA because our warehouses are really filled,” Tiu Laurel added.
The DA said this plan has long been considered to fulfill one of the president’s campaign promises.
“This plan could not be realized last year (2024) since world prices of rice were at a 15-year high. So, now that world market prices have gone down, the subsidy for this is lighter. So, we’re hoping that our local government units will participate, for this program to be successful, and the people can benefit from lower priced rice,” Tiu Laurel further said.
Jayson Cainglet, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) executive director, said they support all efforts to reduce rice prices.
However, he said that in pursuing such a move, local farmers should not be shortchanged and the government should make sure to keep buying prices at P18/kg of fresh palay.
“We can really sell P20/kg rice as long as you have the subsidy to do it. If the NFA (National Food Authority) buying price is P18/kg plus cost to mill is, say P33 to P34 per kg, that means the subsidy is P14 per kg,” Cainglet said.
“With a maximum of P4.5-billion subsidy, that will be around 320 million kg or 320,000 metric tons or nine days of consumption,” he further said.
Raul Montemayor, the national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers called the rice subsidy plan a “political move” that would involve lots of subsidy.
“Palay bought by NFA at P24 per kg should sell at around P45 per kg of rice just to break even,” Montemayor said.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, local well-milled rice sold for P38 to P54/kg on April 22, while regular milled rice went for P32 to P48 per kg.
Imported well-milled rice was selling for P43 to P46 per kg while the price of imported regular milled rice ranged from P33 to P45/kg.
Special-variety imported rice fetched P52 to P65 and premium rice, P44 to P55.
Special-variety local rice was selling for P50 to P65/kg while premium rice went for P45 to P60kg.
