The Department of Agriculture (DA) has further expanded the P20-per-kilo rice program in three cities and one municipality across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The P20/kilo rice is now available for sale in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; Roxas City, Capiz; Baloy, Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental; and San Jose municipality, Occidental Mindoro, the DA announced in a statement on Wednesday, August 20.
So far, the P20/kilo rice is being sold in 211 sites nationwide, the DA said.
“By next week, the P20/kilo rice program will also cover fisherfolk and fish port workers listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture… Eligible individuals may purchase up to 10 kilograms of subsidized rice per month,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
The DA said that the initial batch of beneficiaries from the fisheries sector will include communities in Lucena City in Quezon Province, Sual in Pangasinan and Navotas.
Tiu Laurel said the program will continue to expand in the coming weeks and months, aiming to reach up to 15 million households or about 60 million Filipinos by 2026, in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive.
To support the expansion of the P20/kilo rice program, the government has approved an additional P10 billion in funding for the DA’s National Food Authority in 2026. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has instructed the DA to sustain the program until the end of his term in June 2028.
Meanwhile, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said during the Bagong Pilipinas public forum on Wednesday, that palay prices in different parts of the country have improved since the government announced a 60-day ban on rice imports starting September 1.
Lacson did not provide specific figures but said palay prices increased by as high as 6 percent in some areas, with current fresh palay prices now at P18 per kg in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, P16.20 per kg in Southern Mindanao, P14 in Nueva Ecija, P13 in Pampanga, among others.
“In regions where palay prices are still low, it could be because local harvests have already peaked,” Lacson added.
Based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the average cost to produce a kilogram of palay in the country was at P14.52 in 2024.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, local well-milled rice sold for P38 to P52 per kg on Monday (August 18) while regular milled rice went for P30 to P45 per kg.
Imported well-milled rice was selling for P39 to P50 per kg while the price of imported regular-milled rice ranged from P33 to P45 per kg.
Special-variety imported rice fetched P50 to P65 and premium rice, P42 to P50.
Special-variety local rice was selling for P50 to P65 per kg while premium rice went for P42 to P60 per kg. These prices are based on existing market forces and factors and are not subsidized.
