Low- to lower-middle-income families will soon be eligible to purchase subsidized rice at ₱ 20 per kilo, as the government plans to grant 15 million households access to cheap rice in the year ahead.

In pursuit of the promise of President Marcos, the Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to significantly expand the coverage of the ₱20-per-kilo rice program.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said the plan next year is to hold weekly program launches, with priority given to those in the lower to lower-middle income bracket.

Tiu Laurel said his agency will soon release the launch schedule for each week of the coming year, in partnership with local government units (LGUs), to ensure proper implementation.

The DA will use data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and LGUs to identify beneficiaries, who must first register in the program’s digital registry system to be eligible to make purchases.

“Hopefully, the people will be happy that the promise of the President is now here,” Tiu Laurel said, referring to Marcos’ campaign promise of bringing down the price of rice to as low as ₱20 per kilo.

Since its launch in May, the ₱20-per-kilo rice program has provided vulnerable sectors with cheaper rice, with beneficiaries including senior citizens, solo parents, persons with disabilities, minimum-wage workers, and rice farmers, among others.

With the program recently covering all 82 provinces, Tiu Laurel said it has now served nearly two million Filipinos.

Depending on the success of next year’s weekly launches, he said the target is to cover 60 million individuals, or about 15 million households, by 2026.

To reach this goal, the DA is also seeking to expand the network of Kadiwa ng Pangulo (KNP) stores nationwide.

At present, there are around 740 KNP stores across the country that sell rice at ₱20 per kilo, among other products sourced directly from farmers.

By next year, the department plans to open KNP stores in every municipality, bringing the total to 1,493, according to the latest government figures. The target is to open 3,000 stores by the end of Marcos’ term in June 2028.

Tiu Laurel said there will be more distribution outlets for the ₱20-per-kilo rice, including through partnerships with other government agencies.

In total, the DA will require up to 1.8 million metric tons (MT) of milled rice next year to reach its target number of beneficiaries.

The DA is eyeing a budget of ₱23 billion to purchase the rice, particularly through the National Food Authority (NFA).

The DA sources rice for the program from aging NFA stocks, subsidizing the difference between the selling price and the set price of ₱33 per kilo.

“Our priority will be aging [stocks], but at the end of the day, if the uptake is strong and the supply is good, then we will consume all the rice from NFA, and we will just buy new stocks,” said Tiu Laurel.

The rice will be purchased directly from farmers to lift farmgate prices of palay (unmilled rice), with plans to also buy from cooperatives once the proposed Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act is enacted into law.

The RICE Act aims to reinstate NFA’s powers, including the sale of rice directly to the public.