The P20-per-kilogram rice is now available for sale to vulnerable sectors in Bacoor, Cavite, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.
The DA said in a statement 500 sacks of rice were procured by the National Food Authority (NFA) from local farmers and were delivered for sale at the DA’s Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlet at the Zapote-Bacoor Public Market.
The DA said the rice allotment will be enough for 2,500 residents at 10 kilograms for each resident or household, per month.
The vulnerable sectors who can buy the P20/kg rice are the solo parents; senior citizens; persons with disabilities; indigent families identified under the government’s conditional cash transfer, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps); and minimum wage earners, 1 million of whom will be covered by the P20/kg rice program by the end of 2025, the DA said.
Bacoor was picked as the latest model site for the P20/kg rice due to its strong local governance and community engagement, the DA said.
Between May 13 and June 30, 2025, more than 105,000 families in Luzon and Visayas purchased more than 804,000 kg of NFA rice at P20 per kilo, the DA added, citing data from its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service.
To date, the DA has also established 94 sites nationwide for the sale of P20/kg rice.
he government has also been preparing to offer the P20/kg rice nationwide and make the program last until the end of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term in 2028.
The DA’s Food Terminal Inc. currently buys the rice from the NFA and sells it through the network of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets and to other program participants.
“For every sack of rice sold under this program, we remove two bags of palay from NFA warehouses—stocks that must be replaced by grain from our farmers… This creates a sustainable market for local producers while helping Filipino households access affordable staple food,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. explained.
In a separate press briefing in Malacañang, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the sale of the NFA rice at P20/kg would ensure that people have enough food on the table.
Castro said the president has directed national agencies to expand and strengthen the program’s reach, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) providing data on vulnerable communities, and the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) monitoring the compliance and participation of local government units (LGUs).
Meanwhile, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) urged the government to stop the plummeting of local palay prices.
“We welcome the efforts of the DA and the NFA in ensuring that only legitimate farmers get subsidies and support from the government. The bigger concern, however, remains in the capacity of the NFA to effectively intervene in palay procurement, which is equivalent to only 2 to 3 percent of the total palay production,” Sinag Executive Director Jayson Cainglet said.
“Palay prices have fallen to P8 to P12 per kg in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. Reports of P7 per kg in Mindanao have also reached our offices. Millers are only buying palay at a maximum of P15 to P16 per kg due to the flooding of imported rice in the market, which has a landed cost of only P26 to P28 per kg,” Cainglet added.
The farmers’ group warned that many farmers may no longer plant rice this cropping season.
Sinag called for the imposition of palay floor prices at P17/kg for fresh palay, and P23/kg for dry palay. The group also pushed for a P40-billion palay procurement fund; the provision of cash incentives from the excess of P4 billion collected from rice tariffs in 2024; an increase in imported rice tariffs; and for LGUs to directly buy dry palay at P23/kg.
