THE Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday launched the P20 per kilo rice for the Walang Gutom Program (WGP) beneficiaries.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian and Agriculture Assistant Secretary Genevieve Guevarra led the rollout of the program in Tondo, Manila, which enables the WGP beneficiaries to use part of the P3,000 food voucher to buy the P20 per kilo rice under the “Benteng Bigas, Meron na” program.
Gatchalian said the 300,000 WGP household beneficiaries would benefit from the rice program, which is also available to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, senior citizens, solo parents, persons with disabilities, and minimum wage earners.
During the program launch, Gatchalian and Guevarra signed a memorandum of understanding that concretizes the joint effort of the DSWD and the DA to provide the most vulnerable sectors with access to affordable staple food.
Under the WGP, each household beneficiary receives P3,000 worth of monthly food credits via electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, which they can use to purchase healthy food items from accredited retailers.
Fifty percent of the food credit is used to purchase carbohydrates such as rice, sweet potato, among others, while 30 percent is intended for protein food items and 20 percent for fruits and vegetables.
The P20 per kilo rice was launched in Cebu in May and Luzon in June.
