ON Wednesday, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced the implementation of P20 per kilo of rice in Visayas.
This implementation followed after having a private meeting with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and 12 other Visayas governors at the Cebu Provincial Capitol. Laurel states that the Chief Executive wants this to be implemented across the country in the long run.
During a press conference, Laurel stated that the President has given the directive. “Initially itong programa ng DA was supposed to last until December, pwede pa stretch ‘yan until February. But our President has given the directive to the Department of Agriculture to formulate this to be sustainable and ituloy-tuloy hanggang 2028.”
Since then, Marcos has remained optimistic about his pledge during the campaign to lower rice prices to as low as P20 per kilogram.
According to Laurel, the goal depends on resolving the value chain, which is the sequence of steps that go into creating a good or service that is offered for sale to customers, with each state contributing to the good or service’s worth.
The purchase of P20 per kilo is capped at 10 kilograms per week or about 40 kilos in a month.
Laurel added that the DA has been working day and night to implement the P20 per kilo of rice, and now that the DA has stocks of rice, it can now be sold at P20 per kilo.
”We have to also move out stocks from other areas kasi the other factor na kailangan din namin gawin ito sa DA is because talagang punong-punong pa rin ang warehouses ng DA ng bigas at palay,” Laurel said.
Laurel stated that the budget would be determined by the run rate.
