By JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and JED MACAPAGAL
Government mobile markets are now selling rice at P25 per kilogram, closer to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise of P20.
The President, at the launch of Kadiwa ng Pangulo in Pili in Camarines Sur yesterday, said government continues to work on lowering the price of rice, along with other staples such as onion and sugar which is now available at P85 per kilo from more than P100 a kilo.
The National Food Authority (NFA) sells rice at reduced prices at the Kadiwa ng Pangulo.
But Raul Montemayor, Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) national manager, said rice at P25 per kg price at Kadiwa’s rolling stores is “artificial and unsustainable.”
Montemayor said the government may have good intention in offering rice at that price but noted the move has a “ doubtful long-term impact. ” Its sustainability, he said, would depend largely on government’s willingness to incur losses by providing subsidies.
“The farmgate price of palay has just risen to P23 per kg; at that price, the price of rice will have to be at least P40 just to break even. The NFA buys palay at P19 per kg and needs to sell rice at P35 per kg to recover all costs. Selling rice at P25 or P20 is always possible, depending on how much the government is willing to lose in terms of subsidy,” Montemayor said.
Jayson Cainglet, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) executive director, said rice at P20 per kg is possible at subsidized rates for consumers and “not at the expense of depressing farmgate prices.”
Cainglet said farmgate price of rice is at P23 to P23.50 per kg “so retail prices of rice, without government intervention, will hover around P42 to 46 per kg.”
SINAG said the cost of producing rice has gone up by P2 to P3 per kg to about P16 to 17 per kg mainly due to the increase in the cost of fuel and logistics as well.
“The price of imported rice has also gone up due to global price increase of farm inputs and fuel costs, plus the lower value of peso against the dollar. We hope the economic managers would not succumb to advising the President to push for more rice imports in the guise of the P20 per kg of rice and they should only give the right information to the President,” the group added.
Cainglet also said the country can only lower the retail cost of rice sustainably if the government can introduce interventions that would lower the cost of producing palay while also cutting post-harvest losses and removing non-productive players in the whole supply chain.
Department of Agriculture’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region yesterday showed the price per kg range of imported rice was P50 to P58 for special variety; P43 to P52 for premium; P40 to P46 for well-milled; and P37 to P44 for regular milled.
For local rice, special variety ranged from P48 to P60; premium, P42 to P49; well-milled, P38 to P46 and; regular milled, P34 to P40.
Meanwhile, at the Kadiwa launch in Pili,
Marcos said there are now more than 500 Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets nationwide, which apart from ensuring the public has access to affordable and fresh food, are also geared towards providing local farmers and producers and fishermen with a secure and direct access to the markets and the consumers.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources also offers affordable seafood products in Kadiwa.
The President said Kadiwa also provides a market for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) heavily affected during the peak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Kadiwa ng Pasko from November 5 to December 31 last year, generated P136.14 million in sales nationwide.
It was relaunched as Kadiwa ng Pangulo in Cebu in February and in Manila in March.
