THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already distributed some P307 million worth of cash grants to micro and small rice retailers and sari-sari store owners who were affected by the price cap imposed by Malacañang on rice.
President Marcos Jr. has already lifted the price ceiling.
DSWD Undersecretary Ed Punay said around 20,000 beneficiaries have already received the one-time P15,000 cash grant but some 7,000 beneficiaries have yet to their subsidy.
“Tuluy-tuloy ang ating assistance sa ating mga rice retailers. Patuloy ang ating pamimigay ng assistance (The distribution of assistance rice retailers is continuing. We would continue to distribute the assistance),” Punay said during the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” program.
The DSWD was supposed to complete the distribution of rice grant to micro and small rice retailers and sari-sari store owners by the end of September, but some beneficiaries failed to avail of the grant during the provided schedule for distribution in their areas.
The government implemented a price cap of P41 per kilo on regular milled rice and P45 per kilo on well-milled rice in September due to the rising prices of rice. Because of the adverse effect of the price ceiling on small rice sellers, the President ordered the distribution of a P15,000 cash assistance to micro and small retailers and sari-sari store owners.
Meanwhile in South Cotabato, Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo said local rice sellers can start selling rice at a low cost of P25 per kilo due to high yield and lower product cost during the recent harvest season in the province.
Tamayo said following the implementation of the Consolidated Rice Production and Mechanization Program in the province, they were able to harvest 10 to 14 tons of palay per hectare during the first week of harvest season in September instead of the usual four tons.
He said this translated to a production cost of P5 to P6 per kilo of palay from the previous P12 to P15 per kilo of palay.
“What happened in the province is, before you reduce the price, you must first increase production to raise the earning of farmers, then lower the price of rice),” he said in Filipino.
“Kaya doon sa amin, kung normal na kumikita ang aming magsasaka ng P16,000 to P20,000 per hectare, ngayon kikita na sila ng P80,000 to P140,000 per hectare, pero iyong presyo puwede nang ibagsak up to 25 pesos (what happened to us is, if the farmers normally earn P16,000 to P20,000 per hectare, now they can earn P80,000 to P140,000 per hectare, but the price of rice can now be lowered to P25 pesos),” he added.
Tamayo said under the program, they consolidated more than 2,000 hectares of rice lands owned by individual farmers, or rice lands that measure less than a hectare to a couple of hectares and treated it as one.
This means that the soil of the consolidated rice land was tested and treated together, irrigated together, and planted using the same high yield seeds from the government which lowered the cost of production compared to expenditures that individual farmers used to shoulder on their own.
He said it also helped that South Cotabato is not within the normal typhoon path and that irrigation had increased in the consolidated rice lands, which he said would enable them to plant and harvest thrice a year instead of twice a year.
Tamayo said with the success in South Cotabato, government can replicate the Consolidated Rice Production and Mechanization Program in other parts of the country, especially in areas that are not within the usual typhoon paths.
