The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has devised a strategy to achieve President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s goal of selling rice to consumers at rates significantly lower than the existing average of P39 per kilo.
During the campaign, Marcos Jr. promised to reduce the price of rice to P20 per kilo, which agricultural stakeholders stated was unfeasible due to the rising costs of producing, marketing, and transporting the staple.
However, Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz stated on Monday that consumers might buy a kilo of rice for P20 as early as next year.
“Once we discuss the details with the president-elect, we will have the guidelines within the next six months. Perhaps we’ll be able to achieve this within the first quarter of next year,” Cruz said in a mix of Filipino and English during a press briefing on Monday.
The DAR is pushing the Programang Benteng Bigas sa Mamamayan (PBBM) to the incoming administration, an effort that intends to merge small farm lots into mega-farms for rice production.
Cruz defined a mega farm as a collection of contiguous farms combined to make a big plantation capable of producing large quantities.
According to the DAR, a mega farm should consist of a producing center or area with at least 50 hectares of contiguous or nearby agrarian reform holdings.
It stated that infrastructure projects and facilities such as farm-to-market roads and bridges, irrigation, potable water supply, warehouses and storage facilities, greenhouses, and inputs and product distribution stations would be provided to support production, postharvest, processing, and marketing.
DAR says P20 per kilo of rice possible by early 2023
Beneficiaries might choose from various options, including a local or international investor-led production core, a joint venture or lease agreement, or a management contract.
The PBBM will begin with 150,000 acres of completely mechanized rice fields under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
This land has the potential to produce 23 million cavans of rice, which is enough to feed nine million Filipinos and help around 100,000 agrarian reform recipients and small farmers.
The DAR estimates that each agrarian beneficiary will earn P76,501 per year or P6,375 per month.
However, the agency did not provide any additional information about PBBM.
It merely stated that the goal was to minimize manufacturing costs and eliminate the layers of rice trade by selling directly to customers and that it will be adopted nationwide.
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