Marcos bets on early harvest

He said the country has sufficient stock of the staple.

"We are here to help those in need because we know that the price of rice has increased," he added.

Marcos said rice prices were so high, prompting the government to impose a price cap.

Under Executive Order 39, which took effect on 5 September, Marcos ordered the implementation of a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kg for well-milled rice.

Marcos stressed that one of the government's thrusts is to address the gaps and challenges in the agricultural sector, particularly "rice distribution that affects supply and prices."

"We have a lot of rice, but it is not being correctly distributed. That's why we have no problem with the rice supply here in the Philippines," he said.

Marcos said DA is exhausting efforts to boost the supply and reduce the cost of rice.

In the meantime, he said the government must implement measures such as imposing a price cap, providing cash aid to rice retailers, and setting new palay buying price range for the National Food Authority to help farmers and secure inventory.

Farmers happy with hike

The DA said farmers from different regions were happy with the increase in the buying price of the National Food Authority at the farmgate of P16 to P19 per kilogram for fresh palay and P19 to P23 for dry palay.

The new buying prices of NFA were ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos, who is concurrent Agriculture Secretary, on Monday last week to ensure that farmers, who are currently harvesting their wet season crop, would not suffer from abruptly declining prices for their fresh harvest beginning this month.

DA Undersecretary Leo Sebastian said the farmers told them that traders usually use the NFA as their benchmark in setting their buying prices from farmers for the fresh palay.

With the mandated price hike for NFA, such drastic price declines would not materialize.

Jing Villamente