Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said Friday that government will expand coverage of the P29 rice program to include areas outside of Luzon by next month.
The DA chief is also confident that by early next year, when global prices of rice are expected to fall, rice sold at KADIWA centers will also be priced lower.
Speaking to reporters after accompanying President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Aurora province to distribute assistance to farmers, Sec. Tiu Laurel said consumers welcomed the launch last week of the P29 rice program and are clamoring for more areas to be covered by the large-scale trial. He said the project launch aims to collect comprehensive data on rice supply, consumer demand, and the logistics needed to mount such a program across the country.
The large-scale trial was initially scheduled to run for a month in 10 KADIWA centers before it is expanded to other areas due to supply and logistics considerations.
“This week we’re already up to 13 KADIWA outlets. By August 1, hopefully we will have 23 stores plus three provincial areas. We will have one in Cebu, maybe Maguindanao,” the DA chief said. “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,” he added.
Selected KADIWA stores now sell P29 per kilo rice sourced from ageing stocks of the National Food Authority every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to vulnerable households that include members of the government’s 4Ps program, solo parents, senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Rice produced under the National Irrigation Administration’s contract-growing arrangement with rice farmers will eventually supplement supply from NFA to sustain the P29 rice program.
Spearheaded by President Marcos, the P29 rice 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 through KADIWA centers.
Another program, Rice-for-All, is meant to provide general consumers access to well-milled and fancy rice at lower prices than those prevailing in public markets.
Meanwhile, Sec. Tiu Laurel noted that DA has gradually managed to bring down the price of basic agricultural goods like sugar, eggs, chicken, and fish compared to their yearago levels. What remains stubbornly high, he said, are prices of pork and rice, which he expects to ease in the coming months.
In the case of pork, he said the eventual roll out of a vaccine for the African Swine Fever, albeit on a controlled-basis, would eventually allow greater movement of hogs to ease supply constraints. “It should help lower the price of pork in the near future,” he said.
As for rice, Sec. Tiu Laurel said global prices should start to go down with the end of El Nino that could ease demand from importing countries and eventually increase global production. He also cited the expected lifting of India’s ban on the export of non-basmati rice as a factor that could ease supply pressures. ###
