President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the P20-per-kilo rice initiative, calling it “achievable” and “sustainable,” despite growing concerns from farmers who say the program is far from beneficial on their end.
In his weekly vlog uploaded Sunday, Marcos said the program, which aims to make rice more affordable to the public, will continue with the support of national and local governments. “With the cooperation of many agencies of the national government and now in partnership with the local government, P20 rice is here to stay,” he said.
The assurance comes amid criticism from farmers who argue that the program’s benefits are skewed toward consumers rather than producers. A recent INQUIRER.net report highlighted that some farmers are still selling their palay for as low as P14 to P15 per kilo—well below the government’s target support price—due to lack of access to National Food Authority (NFA) buying stations, immediate financial needs, and reliance on middlemen.
Marcos, however, insisted that the government is actively preventing the drop in palay prices. He emphasized that the NFA will maintain its buying price, with wet palay pegged at P18 per kilo, and dried palay between P19 and P23.
“There are those who say that… the price of palay will also go down. That is not true,” the President said, addressing fears that cheaper market rice might push farmgate prices even lower.
He acknowledged the challenges farmers face in processing their harvests and said the government is addressing these by expanding access to drying and milling equipment. “That’s why we are spreading rice processing plants, and hundreds of dryers, so that the farmer now has a dryer… So he won’t be forced to sell his rice at whatever price the trader gives him,” Marcos added.
Despite these efforts, many in the agriculture sector remain skeptical, saying that unless structural issues in the supply chain are resolved, the P20-per-kilo rice goal may come at the farmers’ expense.
