Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. expressed optimism on the sustainability of the government’s program of providing consumers with affordable rice at as low as P43 per kilo.

In an interview during the Kadiwa ng Pangulo inspection visit in Mandaluyong City, the DA chief said that the government has enough rice stocks for the Rice For All program, expected to last at least January next year.

“Technically, we already have the stocks on hand for Rice For All. But of course, if it suddenly becomes super saturated... we have 20 Rice For All running for more than a month, and based on its run rate, we already have stocks until January or February for the additional 40 stores,” said Laurel.

“Unless it suddenly becomes popular, and hopefully it will become popular and people will start buying, then I'm confident we can supply,” he added.

To recall, the DA on Thursday said that it will be selling rice for P43 kilo in some various Kadiwa ng Pangulo stores. This is lower than its previous price of P45 per kilo.

On the same day, it announced opening  an additional 20 Kadiwa ng Pangulo stores   in various parts of Metro Manila and Calamba, Laguna. DA eyes reaching 169 Kadiwa stores by year end.