By Junex Doronio
MANILA – Expressing hope that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise in 2022 of a P20 per kilo of rice can still be realized, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to consider his subsidy-cum-contract-growing proposal.
Villafuerte, who is also president of the National Unity Party (NUP), proposed to the Marcos Jr. administration to provide a P40,000 subsidy per hectare for small farmers in the top 10 palay-producing provinces on condition that they would sell their palay to the government at P9 per kilo.
“This is an excellent solution because we will be providing needed production assistance to our palay growers that will stop them from seeking pre-planting loans from usurers or unscrupulous traders and then selling their produce to them at dirt cheap prices, while at the same time boosting our harvests and enabling rice consumers to buy the staple in retail markets at only P20 to P30 per kilo,” Villafuerte stressed.
The Camarines Sur lawmaker said he is also optimistic that the interactions between Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and the governors of the biggest palay-growing provinces will continue in a bid to dramatically boost the domestic supply and reduce the price of rice.
He noted that the program will cover a total of 1 million hectares of farmland, with an anticipated yield of 3 billion kilos of rice.
Villafuerte said 1.5 billion kilos of rice will be sold at P20 per kilo to low-income families through the Kadiwa outlets and the remaining half will be sold for P30 per kilo to other consumers.
(IAmigo/MNM)
