President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally visited two warehouses of the National Food Authority in San Idelfonso, Bulacan and held a dialogue with the farmers.
According to a “24 Oras” report by Mariz Umali on Tuesday, the farmers expressed their hope that the government will continue to purchase rice from them even after the harvest season.
They also appealed for an increase in the buying price of dry palay or unmilled rice from P24 per kilo to P28.
“Binabalik natin sa dating gawi na yung na yung NFA bumibili, tinitignan yung presyo para maganda ang presyo sa pagbili sa inyo ng palay. Ngayon nga P19 [kapag] fresh [at] P24 pagka tuyo,” said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
(We will return to the previous practice where the NFA will buy, and will look into the best price when buying grains. Now it is P19 [if it’s] fresh, [and] P24 if it’s dry.)
According to a rice farmer, traders have been lowballing their grains and purchasing them at just P12 per kilo.
“Ang puhunan po kasi naming farmer sa bawat isang hektarya [ng lupa] ay hindi po bababa sa P50,000, pero pagka nabili na yung palay niyo po eh napakababang halaga. Hindi mo na po kinikita kasi marami ka pang babayaran,” said rice farmer Rodolfo Faraon Jr.
(A farmers’ capital for every hectare [of land] does not go lower than P50,000, but our grains will be bought at a very low price. We don’t have any profit since we have a lot more to pay.)
Marcos said that the government will look for a compromise with the rice floor prices, where both the farmers and consumers will not be lowballed or lose profit.
He also promised that he will work on facility improvements, additional equipment and tracks, and strengthening farmers’ assistance programs of the Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, the President toured the interior of both warehouses to check on the NFA rice stocks.
The NFA said that they have opened 134 warehouses and will add 36 more by 2025.
They are also planning on opening Kadiwa Stores on said warehouses to sell P20 per kilo rice.
NFA added that they are targeting the implementation of the P20-per-kilo rice program nationwide by 2026.
“We are on the planning stage. Mayroon ng mga (We have) technical working groups on how we will implement this on a nationwide scenario,” said NFA Administrator Larry Lacson. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News
