The Department of Agriculture (DA) is stepping up its efforts to strengthen food security and stabilize grain prices by allowing rice farmers to directly purchase subsidized rice at P20 per kilo from National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses beginning 13 August.

Under the DA’s “Benteng Bigas, Meron Na!” campaign, farmers registered in the agency’s Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) will be eligible to buy up to 10 kilos of rice per month through newly established KADIWA-FTI booths inside NFA warehouses. The program will initially be rolled out in Regions 2 and 3.

Currently, around 2.9 million rice farmers are enrolled in the RSBSA. Secretary Tiu Laurel added that plans are being finalized to include the country’s 2.8 million registered fisherfolk in the program as well, pending logistical refinements.

As envisioned, farmers may avail of their monthly rice entitlement in bulk, enabling them to purchase a 50-kilo sack in one transaction to cover their allocation from August to December.

“This means that if they want, they could buy a 50-kilo sack of the P20 rice to cover their allocation from August to December,” said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, who also chairs the policymaking NFA Council.

If all eligible farmers take full advantage of the program, the NFA is expected to release roughly 520,000 50-kilo bags of rice per month from its stocks. To maintain adequate buffer stocks, the agency will procure two sacks of palay for every sack of rice distributed – an approach that creates more selling opportunities for local farmers and helps stabilize palay farm-gate prices.

The DA emphasized that the rice distributed under this program will continue to be sourced through Food Terminal Inc. from the NFA, in line with legal mandates that NFA build reserves strictly from domestically grown palay.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has tasked the DA with expanding the program’s reach to benefit up to 15 million households – or roughly 60 million Filipinos – by next year. The administration aims to sustain the initiative through 2028, fulfilling a major campaign promise to make rice affordable for all.

To ensure sustainability, President Marcos has approved an P18 billion budget for the rice program for 2026. This will supplement the proposed P9 billion allocation for palay procurement in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, ensuring the DA has the resources to keep both farmers and consumers protected in a volatile rice market.