Cheaper rice to be sold soon in VisMin, says DA

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to expand the ‘P29’ and ‘Rice-for-All’ programs—two government initiatives meant to provide consumers with cheaper rice—to Visayas and Mindanao by August.

Arnel de Mesa, assistant secretary and spokesperson for the DA, said on Monday that both programs would be available at Kadiwa centers, state-subsidized stores aimed at cushioning surging prices of basic goods, including rice.

An initial 10 locations in Metro Manila and Bulacan were covered by the recently launched P29 program, but De Mesa said the agency eyes to ramp up its presence across the country.

More Kadiwa stores

“Hopefully, next week, more stores will be added. I can’t say the exact number but by August, we can be in Visayas and Mindanao already and other parts of Luzon … for both P29 and Rice-for-All,” he told reporters.

According to him, the government has already more than 300 Kadiwa stores. More local governments have also initiated talks with the DA for the establishment of Kadiwa stores in Batangas, Cavite and Laguna provinces.

‘Definitely cheaper’

The Rice-for-All program, on the other hand, may be implemented within the month. For this project, the per-kilo prices of rice may range from P45 to P48, but de Mesa hinted that the figures may become lower following a drop in international prices.

He assured the public that the supply of rice being sold at Kadiwa stores would be “definitely cheaper than the prevailing prices” in the market.

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Based on the price monitoring of DA for July 1 to July 6, the weekly average price per kilo for imported commercial rice ranged from P49.22 to P60.36. Local commercial rice, on the other hand, had a weekly average price of P49.16 to P60.69.

The DA official also said that the agency was studying the possibility of implementing a limit for the ‘Rice-for-All’ program to prevent others from buying in bulk and reselling them at higher prices.

“So similar to P29 where we set a limit of 10 kilos per cardholder, we might be setting also a limit for the Rice-for-All to prevent abuse,” he said, adding that the government has “enough supply for now” of the lower-priced staple.