P20/kilo rice still possible – NEDA chief

MANILA, Philippines — Bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo remains possible within President Marcos’ term, but the country’s agriculture sector has “a lot of catching up” to do to achieve that goal, according to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

In a press briefing at Malacañang yesterday, Balisacan said Marcos, concurrently agriculture secretary, is putting a lot of resources into the sector to boost rice production, including investing in post-harvest facilities.

“Our position has always been that we need to increase productivity in agriculture… What drives low prices are increases in productivity,” Balisacan added.

The NEDA chief, however, did not give a timeline on when the target to lower the price of Filipinos’ staple food to P20 per kilo could be achieved.

“I can’t say that, ‘Oh, by next … we should be able to…,’ that’s asking for the moon, you know… That’s not going to happen because as I said, there’s so much catch-up thing to do, so much constraints that we are now addressing,” he said.

During a hearing of the House of Representatives appropriations committee on the Department of Agriculture’s proposed budget of P167.5 billion for 2024, DA Undersecretary for policy, planning and regulations Mercedita Sombilla said that Marcos’ 2022 national elections campaign promise to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo is unlikely to see fulfillment in the next two years.

Rice prices currently range from P38 to P50 or P60, according to the DA.

“Our President made a promise to reduce the price of rice, that has to be taken in the context that what we will do is to increase productivity, because if we reduce the prices of rice at that level without commensurate increase in productivity, who will suffer? It’s the farmers that we are trying to protect, right?” Balisacan said.

He added that the country must invest in durable and resilient irrigation system, modern and high-yielding rice varieties, pest control and post-harvest facilities, among other initiatives.

“Unfortunately, those cannot be done overnight … but if we can do this and if we can do that, we should be able to reduce prices substantially. Prices need not this be high as you can see it from other countries – you look at Thailand, you look at Indonesia, Vietnam … their prices are much lower than (ours) because their productivity is high, farm productivity is high,” Balisacan said.

The socioeconomic planning secretary noted that the construction of infrastructure to boost agricultural productivity will be completed beyond the Marcos’ term.

“But that progress has to be sustained over the next two more administrations after the Marcos administration,” Balisacan said.

Realistic

For former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor, DA officials are just being realistic after admitting that the P20 per kilo rice is not achievable in the next two years.

“The DA officials concerned are just being realistic. Consumers may enjoy the P20 rice if the government is willing and able – budget-wise – to provide huge subsidies to them,” Montemayor told The STAR yesterday.

“Besides, at P20, farmers may find themselves receiving a palay farmgate price of around P10 per kilo, very much below their production costs,” he added. –  Bella Cariaso