DA program to sell rice at below P29/kg
DA aims to sell rice below P29/kg to marginalized sectors by early next year, anticipating global price declines post-El Niño. With India lifting export bans, global demand pressures are expected to ease, boosting production. Expansion plans for the P29/kg rice program include 23 stores by August, targeting wider national coverage by Q1 2023. Beneficiaries include vulnerable households under Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino, supported by NFA stocks and NIA contract-grown rice.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) targets to sell rice at below P29 per kilogram (kg) to the marginalized sector by early next year when global prices of rice shall have declined.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said global prices should start to go down as the El Niño weather phenomenon ends.
Tiu Laure said this could ease demand from importing countries and eventually increase global production.
Tiu Laurel said the lifting of India’s ban on the export of non-basmati rice will also help ease global demand pressure.
For now, the DA is focused on expanding the coverage of the P29 per kg rice program to areas outside Luzon by next month.
The program is being implemented in 13 areas through Kadiwa centers. By August 1, the DA eyes to have 23 stores plus three provincial areas like Cebu and Maguindanao.
“Then, as we go along, we will widen the coverage and may even try to lessen (the price) of the P29 rice in Kadiwa stores nationwide, hopefully by the first quarter of next year,” Tiu Laurel added.
The P29 per kg rice is sourced from aging stocks of the National Food Authority and is sold to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, solo parents, senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
To sustain the program, the DA will tap rice produced under the National Irrigation Administration’s contract-growing arrangement with rice farmers.
The program aims to provide around 6.9 million vulnerable households, equivalent to around 34 million Filipinos, including indigenous people with low-priced but good quality rice.
The DA will also roll out the Rice-for-All program meant to provide general consumers access to well-milled and fancy rice at lower prices than those prevailing in public markets.
Based on the DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region on Friday, the price of local well-milled rice is between P48 and P55 per kg and regular milled is at P45 P50 per kg.
Imported well-milled rice is at P51 to P55 per kg, while the price range of imported regular milled rice is at P46 to P51 per kg.
Imported rice ranges from P55 to P65 for the special variety and P52 to P60 for premium.
For local rice, the special variety costs P57 to P65 per kg and premium, P50 to P58 per kg.
Source Link: https://malaya.com.ph/news_business/da-program-to-sell-rice-at-below-p29-kg/
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