The Agriculture Department announces it will pilot a P20-per-kilo rice program in the Visayas region next week.
Full story: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/marcos-jr-administration-rice-program-response-food-emergency/
Full story: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/marcos-jr-administration-rice-program-response-food-emergency/
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00:00The Agriculture Department announces it will pilot a 20 peso per kilo rice program in the Visayas
00:06region next week. Agriculture Secretary Chu Laurel says the program will run until December
00:11and could be extended to February 2026, and after that, hopefully until 2028.
00:17There is no clear date yet for a nationwide rollout, but the department sees the Visayas
00:21pilot test as a way to work out the logistics. But a big factor why this is happening now,
00:26aside from the upcoming midterm elections, is that nearly three months after the food
00:30emergency was declared, the government is still struggling with full National Food Authority
00:35warehouses. They still need to clear out rice stocks to make space for the new harvest.
00:40While the government was dealing with 300 metric tons of rice during the Food Emergency Declaration,
00:45it is now contending with 358,000 metric tons. The Food Emergency Declaration enables the
00:51Agriculture Department to sell NFA rice stocks to local governments.
00:55However, only a few local governments availed of the low-priced NFA rice.