35K bags of NFA rice off to Cebu for sale at P20 a kilo
About 35,000 bags of National Food Authority (NFA) rice were shipped to Cebu on Monday as part of the government’s subsidized rice sale project.
In a statement, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the latest shipment came from NFA stocks in San Jose town in Occidental Mindoro.
This marked the second shipment of NFA rice to Cebu under the pilot test of the Marcos administration’s cheap rice program that will last until December.
Cebu received the first batch of 35,000 bags three weeks ago. Outgoing Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia ordered a total of 100,000 50-kilogram sacks of NFA rice for distribution across the province.
Cebu is one of the provinces that participated in the P20 per kilo rice program launched by the DA last month. The provincial government is cofunding the subsidy.
Expansion goals
At present, NFA rice is sold via participating local government units or Kadiwa outlets in parts of Metro Manila and adjacent provinces. Each household can purchase up to 30 kg per month.
Discounted rice is sold at Kadiwa outlets to those belonging to vulnerable sectors, namely indigents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and solo parents.
In the case of local governments, they hold the discretion to determine the beneficiary eligibility under this initiative.
The agency intends to expand the subsidized rice program to include other areas in Luzon and the Visayas during the implementation of the second and third phases between July and September.
“As we continue to implement President Marcos’ P20 rice program, this effort is about more than just bringing down prices, it is about recognizing and supporting the people who make it possible,” DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
He added: “This subsidized rice program is for every Filipino family striving to put food on the table, and for every farmer who rises before dawn, rain or shine, to feed the nation. Thank you. You are the heartbeat of this program, and the reason it has meaning.”
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the grains agency is increasing its storage capacity to procure more palay (unmilled rice) from farmers.
The NFA is currently repairing nine warehouses across Occidental Mindoro that could store up to 455,000 sacks of rice procured and milled in the province.
Once completed, NFA warehouses across the province will increase their storage capacity to 1.079 million bags.
Fair price
Lacson said many farmers in Occidental Mindoro opted to hold off selling their harvests while they waited for the NFA to resume its palay buying to secure a “fair price” for their produce.
The NFA purchases fresh palay for P18 per kg and up to P24 per kg for dry palay, higher than private traders’ offer price of P13.50 to P18 a kilo.
The NFA’s Occidental Mindoro branch has purchased 405,219 bags as of May 30, nearly double the target procurement of 228,00 bags of palay and 10 percent of the estimated harvest of 3.98 million bags.
Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro produced a combined 653,117.41 metric tons (MT) of palay in 2024, down by 5.8 percent from 693,195.16 MT a year ago, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.
