Marcos: Rice at P20 per kilo possible but not right away
MANILA, Philippines — Lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo is possible but it won't be easy and may take time, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said.
In an interview with celebrity vlogger Toni Gonzaga aired over ALLTV on Tuesday, Marcos said some measures have to be undertaken to bring down the price of rice to that level, one of his promises during the 2022 presidential race.
"There's a way to do it but it will take a while. We have to return NFA (National Food Authority) to its old function, not so much importation but really the buying," Marcos, also the agriculture secretary, said.
"And then even — even, actually now, we can already do it but it's a little short-term. We sell the buffer stock that they have in NFA. We can sell it at P20. But that’s not really realistic. We have to bring the actual price down," he added.
The president cited the need to build up the value chain and to post savings to attain the objective.
"And then the world market will slowly be better, we might just make it to P20. But it's a long road there. It's not (going to) be easy," Marcos said.
"And that’s why I am hoping that at the end of all that we are doing — and when I said the end, I'm not talking about tomorrow — I'm talking about, maybe hopefully, if we do it right, then in a couple of — three years that we'll get there," he added.
'Mega farm' concept
Some sectors have said it would be difficult to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo because of high fuel and fertilizer prices. Last June, then agrarian reform secretary Bernie Cruz said the goal could be realized through the implementation of the "mega farms" project.
"Mega farm", similar to the concept of block farming, refers to a cluster of contiguous farms that are consolidated to form a sizable plantation that can produce a large volume of farm products to meet consumers' demands.
"Everything is possible. You just have to be — just have to work very hard at it and be clever about it and come up with new ideas and be creative about what are the things that you are able to do," Marcos said.
Marcos reiterated that ensuring access to affordable food is one of the priorities of his administration. He said one of the measures to attain this is to provide rice allowance for government workers.
"This will be bought by the government from the government so we can save on costs and the people do not have to buy at the market price," the president said.
"Now, we don't want to put the rice producers out of business. On the contrary, what’s going to happen is there will be a demand because the government will buy in bulk. And then we will talk to other corporations," he added.
Government 'rice allowance' an option
Marcos noted that many huge corporations have been providing rice allowances to their employees.
"So, we will institutionalize it. So, at the very least, we should have that. This is life and death and the people are living very close to the subsistence level. And we have to pull ourselves out of that. They should not be at the subsistence level," the president said.
"They should not be spending 60, 70, 80 percent of their income on food. That's far, far, far too much. They have nothing left for anything else. They cannot send their children to school. They cannot pay for the electricity, the water. All of these things that they need to pay for. So that's really the scope of the problem. And that's the way I see it," he added.
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