MANILA -- The National Food Authority said its rice buffer stock has increased substantially as the summer harvest peaks.

The higher inventory aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s directive to ramp up palay procurement efforts and support as many farmers as possible, the NFA said.

As of April 24, its inventory consisted of 10.1 million bags of palay (unmilled rice) and 1.2 million bags of milled rice. This was equivalent to 7.56 million 50-kilo bags of milled rice, which the agency said was enough to feed the entire country for 10 days, the agency added. 

"This figure is the highest since the end of 2020," the NFA said. 

NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the agency still has about P12 billion allocated for palay procurement, and that they aim to maximize purchases during the ongoing summer harvest.  

“This will support the government’s initiative to provide more affordable rice to Filipino consumers,” Lacson said.

The NFA has been buying palay at P18 to P24 per kilo this year.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the P20-per-kilo rice program is crucial to freeing up storage space as the NFA boosts procurement, and also to fulfill a major campaign promise of President Marcos. 

Laurel said the Department of Agriculture is actively exploring other ways to expand access to affordable rice, aside from the P20 rice program in the Visayas.

“Hopefully, we can identify a legal mechanism that allows us to move forward with the program—even without an exemption from the Commission on Elections—so we can finally deliver on this long-awaited promise of President Marcos,” he said.