DA expanding P20 per kilo rice program to cover middle class
The P20 per kilo rice is currently being sold at KADIWA ng Pangulo outlets across the country, but only members of vulnerable sectors—including indigents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and solo parents—are eligible to buy the subsidized National Food Authority (NFA) rice.
The rice is sourced from the stocks of the NFA, which are procured directly from local farmers. The government subsidizes the program through the Food Terminal Inc.
'Our plan is… we will sell the P20 [per kilo] rice to 15 million households… or about 60 million Filipinos. These are middle-income families and below,' Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said at the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum in San Juan City.
The DA will set a monthly cap of 10 kilos that middle-class households can purchase.
'This can be increased further as we go along,' Tiu Laurel said.
Vulnerable sectors have a higher limit of 30 kilos a month.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his fourth SONA, said that the P20 rice program is expanding nationwide, adding that his campaign promise has already been achieved.
The Agriculture chief said the DA is setting aside P18 billion next year for the P20 per kilo rice initiative.
'But in the future, the way to make it sustainable is we plan to buy rice from the farmers with the additional funds,' he said.
He added that the DA is eyeing selling 80% of rice procured from local farmers in the retail market.
The DA chief said the agency is pushing for the amendment of the Rice Tariffication Law to bring back the powers and market intervention functions of the NFA ''so we can buy rice as we sell rice; unlike now, it's just for buffer stocking.' —VBL, GMA Integrated News
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