The Department of Agriculture (DA) is intensifying market interventions to shield low-income households and producers from the potential spike in commodity prices, as food costs re-emerged as primary driver of inflation in February.

In a statement on Friday, March 6, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the agency has ramped up price monitoring and is drafting contingency plans to secure essential supplies.

“We have intensified our price monitoring activities to ensure that supply and price of food remain stable even in the face of challenges,” Tiu Laurel said.

The government is particularly focused on ensuring that food and farm inputs remain sufficient to withstand price shocks stemming from ongoing instability in the Middle East.

Tiu Laurel noted that while local supplies currently appear adequate, the administration is prioritizing stability to prevent global volatility from reaching domestic dinner tables.

The move follows data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showing that inflation for the country’s bottom 30 percent income households accelerated to 2.5 percent in February 2026, a significant jump from 1.6 percent in January and 1.5 percent a year earlier.

The spike, fueled largely by the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages segment, serves as a warning for policymakers as global geopolitical risks threaten to destabilize supply chains.

Food inflation specifically accelerated to 1.6 percent in February from 0.7 percent the prior month. While this remains below the 2.6 percent recorded in February 2025, the rapid month-on-month pickup has signaled a shift in the disinflationary trend seen late last year.

The agency noted that food costs alone accounted for 0.6 percentage point of the nation’s overall inflation rate for the month.

Rice dynamics remained a central factor in the headline figures. While prices for the national staple continued to decline on a year-on-year basis, the pace of that decline narrowed to 3.4 percent in February, compared with a more pronounced 8.5 percent drop in January. This base effect helped push the broader food index higher.

The slowdown in rice price deflation comes more than a year after the DA implemented a maximum suggested retail price on imported rice. That ceiling, which began at ₱58 per kilo in early 2025, was aggressively scaled back to ₱43 by July of last year to ease the burden on consumers.

Beyond rice, the statistics agency reported accelerating price growth across a broad basket of staples, including corn, flour, bread, and other cereals.

Perishable goods also saw upward pressure, with fish, seafood, vegetables, and fruits all recording faster price increases.

The DA is now coordinating with local government units to streamline distribution and minimize logistics costs, seeking to prevent supply bottlenecks that could further exacerbate the trend.