THE Department of Agriculture (DA) would obtain 80-90% of rice for next year’s subsidized rice program from local farmers and the rest from imports, targeting 1.5 million metric tons worth P29 billion, its chief told congressmen at a House of Representatives hearing on Monday.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said sourcing from imports would significantly cut costs, adding that getting everything locally would be fiscally unsustainable.
“This might be controversial, but if we want to make it cheap, we could wholly source it from imported rice and it would only cost us P7 billion,” Mr. Laurel told lawmakers in Filipino.
He added that sustaining the government’s P20-per-kilo rice program would be difficult without continued state intervention.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. campaigned in 2022 on a pledge to lower rice prices to P20 per kilo, but the early years of his administration have been marked by a surge in rice costs.
Mr. Laurel said the government is seeking to sell cheap grain to at least 15 million households next year.
“I don’t think it’s possible without subsidies,” he said in Filipino. “The only country that can keep rice prices low is Vietnam.” “As for India, we really can’t compare because they provide 90% of fertilizers to their farmers for free.”
“We can’t compete with that kind of system,” he added. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
