P20-rice may stay on the table until 2028

National

THE P20-rice is set to stay on the government’s menu until the end of President Marcos’ term, backed by funding that remains largely untapped, according to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.

The government has enough funding to sustain its P20-per-kilo subsidized rice program, known as “Benteng Bigas Meron Na!,” through June 2028, with the initiative expected to benefit as many as 60 million Filipinos.

“It’s really helping a lot of people,” Tiu Lau Laurel said in a Philstar report, citing the program’s assistance to households facing high food costs.

Rather than impose a P20-per-kilo retail price across the entire rice market, the government is using the subsidy to lower prices for qualified consumers.

Tiu Laurel said setting P20 per kilo as the market-wide retail price could put further pressure on farmers, whose production costs leave limited room for additional price cuts.

Even the most efficient local rice farmers spend about P12 to produce a kilo of palay. The grain then incurs milling, transportation, trading and other costs before reaching consumers.

A market-wide P20-per-kilo price could therefore squeeze farm incomes if farmers are forced to absorb the difference between their production costs and the mandated selling price. It could also affect domestic production by reducing incentives for farmers to continue growing rice.

The targeted subsidy allows the government to bring the price down for eligible consumers without placing the full cost of the reduction on farmers and other participants in the supply chain.

The program is also giving the National Food Authority a larger role in the rice market by enabling it to purchase more palay from local farmers through faster inventory movement.

Tiu Laurel said President Marcos was aware that the P20-per-kilo market price for rice he promised during the 2022 campaign could no longer be attained.

The government is instead maintaining the P20 price through a targeted subsidy, with funding currently in place to continue the program until the end of the President’s term.(MyTVCebu)