President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday directed the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to expand the P29 and Rice-for-All (RFA) Programs under the Kadiwa ng Pangulo Program.

President Marcos met officials of DA and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Malacañang to discuss the status of government programs to lower rice prices.

The Palace urged the DA to collaborate with the Department of Finance (DOF) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to ensure the overall strategy addresses the root causes of high prices such as the rising cost of farm inputs and environmental factors.

Local government units (LGUs) were also encouraged to carry out palay buying schemes to secure rice inventories for the programs.

Based on recent observations, the impact of RFA and P29 Rice programs remain limited because they cover few Kadiwa outlets or the targeted vulnerable sector.

The government must also address the challenges of limited rice stocks to sustain the P29 Program and to expand it to cover other beneficiaries such as uniformed personnel, medical frontliners, and indigenous peoples (IPs).

During the meeting, the President was requested to utilize P29 Program’s PhP5 billion allocation for the RFA to finance logistics repair and rehabilitation of government facilities and warehouses where Kadiwa centers may be set up.

Over a 13-week period, a total of 704,126 kilograms of rice were sold through the P29 Program at various Kadiwa centers, serving 140,827 households. Estimated gross sales of farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives and associations (FCAs) reached PhP20.42 million.

In the same period, the total income for FCAs selling the RFA reached PhP117,858.90.

The large-scale trial of P29 Program, an enhanced program that would make affordable and accessible low-priced rice available and sustainable, is set until December 2025.

The NFA said the actual volume procured for the January to October 2024 period is placed at 6,472,299 bags with a performance rate of 72.65 percent based on the 8,908,860 bags cumulative target for 2024, a palay procurement that is first time in almost a decade for the agency.

The agency is set to exceed its palay procurement target for 2024.

NFA’s total expected milled rice inventory (TEMRI) is placed at 4,604,428 bags or 230,221 MT, which is good to last for 6.90 days based on Daily Consumption Requirement (DCR). This is the highest inventory level for the last three years with 77 percent of the required 6,000,000 bags or 300,000 MT buffer stocks at any given time.

With the continuous implementation of Price Range Scheme for Palay Procurement (PRICERs) that benefits local farmers, the NFA is poised to attain the required level of buffer stocks by the end of the year. | PND