MANILA — The Department of Agriculture is set to implement a new strategy for lowering the price of rice in Metro Manila.

Agriculture officials met with market masters and representatives on Friday to agree on limiting their profits on regular and well-milled rice to only P3-5 pesos per kilo. The DA said this will lead to the availability of P43-per-kilo rice in wet markets in Metro Manila by next week.

"With this agreement kanina, we're hoping na talaga masustain na hindi lang siya pili kundi talagang ito yung magiging standard na pag regular at well-milled, talagang dapat hindi tataas ng 45 ang presyuhan dapat sa palengke," said DA spokesperson Asec. Arnel de Mesa.

(With this agreement, we're hoping to sustain low prices in all markets and not just select ones. We aim to make this the standard price.)

“They have agreed to sell well-milled rice for around P42 per kilo after we appealed to their sense of patriotism. We asked them to help ease the burden on the poor by providing more affordable rice,” said DA Undersecretary Roger Navarro.

This is the government's latest effort to bring down the prices of rice as the reduction of rice import tariffs has yet to result in lower retail prices.

When the government cut rice import tariffs in July to 15 percent from 35 percent, economic managers had trumpeted that rice prices would go down by P5 to P6 per kilo as early as August. 

But during a recent press briefing on inflation, the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that rice prices had barely gone down three months after the tariff cuts.  

The DA meanwhile said that based on their data, the prevailing price of rice is still around P50 per kilo.

'IMPOSSIBLE' SAY RETAILERS

Retailers said, however, they have already been limiting their profit to P3-5 per kilo for regular and well-milled rice. 

Marideth Caña of Kamuning Market said it's practically impossible to reach this price level since they get rice at a rate of P45-48 per kilo from their suppliers.

DA officials however said they will still be going around markets next week to ensure that the profit-ceiling will be followed. Meanwhile, the DA is also setting up more Kadiwa Centers to provide more Filipinos with affordable rice.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the agriculture department to increase Kadiwa Stores to 300, providing the public with the Rice for All program.

ENOUGH SUPPLY

The DA likewise assured the public that the supply and prices of rice will remain stable following massive typhoons that heavily destroyed crops and rice fields in various parts of the country.

DA Spokesperson Asec. Arnel De Mesa said they already met with market vendors' associations in Metro Manila to keep the prices steady.

"Isa sa mga kasunduan du'n ay 'yung profit margin nila ay nag-set na kami ng standards," De Mesa explained.

"Bagama't bababa 'yung ating production ngayong taon, 'yung ating import naman ay maganda 'yung datos. Mid-October nasa 3.8 million metric tons na tayo," he added.

He also cited Marcos Jr.'s executive order on tariff cuts that will help stabilize rice supply and prices.

The agency reported that the agricultural damage due to storm Kristine is now pegged at P6.8 billion with rice production as the most affected sector with a loss of 800 million metric tons.

The DA official added that around 86,000 Kristine-stricken farmers will receive indemnification checks out of the P667-million fund from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp (PCIC).

RELIEF GOODS 'READY'

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development also assured an adequate supply of food packs for Filipinos affected by Typhoon Marce.

DSWD Spokesperson Irene Dumlao said there are prepositioned family food packs for victims in need in Northern Luzon including Cagayan, Apayao and Ilocos Norte.

She added the agency is ready to augment the resources of local government units

"More than 200,000 family food packs are prepositioned in those areas... We've sent additional 40,000 plus  in Region 1. Meron din pong 10,000 na family food packs from Benguet province naka-preposition po 'yan sa aming warehouse  na patungo sa Region 2, mayroon din pong mga food packs around 3,000 na naka-preposition in Kalinga but will be brought to Cagayan," Dumlao noted.

The DSWD official added that it has been coordinating with the NDRRMC logistics cluster to borrow assets for faster relief distribution.