The Department of Agriculture (DA) will allot P10 billion in fresh funds and use P8 billion worth of National Food Authority rice stocks to expand the sale of the P20-per-kilo rice nationwide by 2026, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
The P18 billion worth of existing NFA rice stocks and fresh funds will be used to make the P20/kilo rice available to 15 million households or 60 million middle-income and low-income Filipinos, the DA chief told reporters in an interview in San Juan City at the sidelines of a forum organized by the national government on Tuesday, July 29.
The DA chief pegged the present value of the NFA’s rice stocks in its warehouses at P8 billion.
The P10 billion in fresh funds, meanwhile, will be earmarked for buying palay from local farmers, exclusively for the P20-per-kilo rice program, Tiu Laurel said. He added it will be a separate allocation from the regular P9-billion palay procurement funds of the NFA in the DA’s national budget in the 2026 General Appropriations Act of the Marcos administration.
The regular palay procurement activities of the NFA are meant to build the ideal 15-day rice buffer stock for the country to stabilize supply during various public emergencies and calamities.
Tiu Laurel did not provide further details on whether the P10 billion in fresh funds for the P20/kilo rice program will be a separate fund item in the DA NFA’s portion of the 2026 General Appropriations Act or will be funded through a separate bill by Congress.
Tiu Laurel did say that, to sustain the government subsidy for the P20/kilo rice program, the DA will propose a two-tier pricing structure for the NFA rice, wherein 80 percent of the stocks will be sold at around P42 per kilo and generate profits that can be used to subsidize the P20/kilo rice program.
Tiu Laurel added that the full implementation of the DA’s proposed model will require amending the Rice Tariffication Law to strengthen the DA’s power in regulating rice importation, especially during harvest, and restore the NFA’s power to intervene in the local market, including licensing rice retailers and selling rice directly to the public.
House Bill No. 1
House Speaker Martin Romualdez has filed House Bill No. 1, known as the Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment Act, to empower the DA and the NFA to manage the rice industry better, and authorize the DA to set a minimum floor price for palay to safeguard farmers’ incomes.
The DA has said the P20/kilo rice program accounts for only 15 percent of local rice production and is unlikely to affect palay prices or farmer incomes adversely.
The DA has vowed to publish annual reports on rice procurement, distribution coverage, and subsidy disbursement to increase transparency in palay buying for the expansion of the P20/kilo rice sale.
The DA added that it will use monitoring mechanisms like digital tracking and community feedback channels to keep the NFA rice subsidy program transparent and accountable to taxpayers and beneficiaries.
Tiu Laurel said the department has started coordinating with logistics, storage providers, and local government units to streamline distribution and minimize leakages in the planned expansion of the P20/kilo rice program.
QR Codes
Tiu Laurel added that the DA will soon come out with a beta version of a mobile application by October 2025, which will generate QR codes for individuals qualified to purchase the subsidized rice supply.
“There will be an app with a QR code where qualified buyers can register, depending on their criteria. They will use that QR code to get their allocation either from Kadiwa Centers or accredited market outlets,” the DA chief explained.
However, Tiu Laurel clarified that under the scheduled expansion of the sale of the P20/kilo rice, the buying limit will only be at 10 kg monthly for every buyer from a non-vulnerable sector. He added it will remain at 30 kg monthly per buyer, for those coming from vulnerable sectors such as the solo parents, persons with disability, senior citizens, the Walang Gutom Program beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the 4Ps.
Rice farmers eligible
Tiu Laurel revealed that starting August 13, rice farmers can also start buying the P20/kilo rice for their own consumption.
“That is another help for our farmers today, now that palay prices are down, they can at least avail of cheaper rice. It will be conducted nationwide through booths of the Food and Terminal Inc. in NFA warehouses,” he explained.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has instructed the DA to sustain the P20/kilo rice program until the end of his term in June 2028.
As of the DA’s last count on July 16, the P20/kilo rice has been sold in 162 locations nationwide, primarily through the Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets.
