Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Facebook)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay says Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ought to be praised for linking up with the country biggest producers of palay (unhusked rice) in a bid to raise production of the staple grain.

“I take my hat off to Secretary Kiko (Laurel) for taking the proactive step of meeting with the governors of our biggest palay-growing provinces to discuss ways on how to dramatically raise rice productivity,” said Villafuerte, a former governor.

Villafuerte expressed hope that the DA secretary’s initiative to meet with the local chief executives ahead of the next planting season would “give more reason for our agriculture officials and the rest of the Mr. Marcos’ economic team to give a long, hard look at an out-of-the-box proposal meant to enable the government to sell rice beginning in 2024 at the President-aspired retail price of P20 a kilo".

“This proposal to provide a subsidy equivalent to P40,000 per hectare for small farmers tilling a million hectares (ha) combined in the country’s Top 10 palay-growing provinces—on condition that they then sell their produce to the government at P9 per kilo of palay—would enable the Marcos administration to sell 1.5 billion kilogram (kg) of rice to low-income and other vulnerable sectors at P20 a kilo in Kadiwa sa Pangulo outlets," he said.

Another 1.5 billion kilograms of rice, the Bicol solon said, could be sold at a higher P30 to other consumers all over the country.

Laurel said he met with the governors of the 10 biggest palay producers—Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Maguindanao del Sur, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Bukidnon, Tarlac, CamSur, North Cotabato and Iloilo—in San Juan City last Nov. 17.

These provinces account for 48 of the country’s total rice production.

According to the end-November price monitoring report of the DA, local regular milled rice (RMR) was being sold in Metro Manila markets for P33 to P52 a kilo while imported special rice retailed for as high as P65 a kilo.

Villafuerte said that should the government adopt his novel proposal to boost palay yields and slash rice prices in the market as early as next year, “it would be an antidote to projections of elevated rice prices in the world market next year arising from international factors beyond our control.”

With the government spending about P40 billion in yearly subsidies on the rice subsector, he proposed that the DA tap this amount for a subsidy for small farmers tilling an initial total land area of one million hectares in the top 10 producers at P40,000 per hectare for every target farmer-beneficiary.

One of President Marcos' campaign promises was to reduce the retail price of rice to P20.