Lawmakers on Friday grilled officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) over the country’s persistent reliance on rice imports, raising doubts about government data and calling for greater efforts toward achieving rice sufficiency.

During the Senate Finance Subcommittee J hearing on the proposed 2026 budget of the DA and its attached agencies, Senator Rodante Marcoleta questioned Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on why the Philippines remains among the top rice importers globally despite being an agricultural nation and allegedly producing a rice surplus.

“I cannot understand why we are still importing rice,” said Marcoleta. 

“We are an agricultural country, yet we have become the biggest importer of rice,” he added. 

Marcoleta cited the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reports a per capita consumption of 1.4 bags per person annually.

“Given our population of around 115 to 119 million rice-eating Filipinos, and considering the reported 74-million-bag surplus, that figure is already very big,” he added. 

In response, Laurel clarified that the 1.4 bags equate to about 70 kilos per person annually, which falls significantly short of the PSA’s official estimate of 122 kilos per person per year. 

Laurel explained that the figure translates to a national rice consumption of about 14 million metric tons, but we are only producing 13 million tons.

He also highlighted the production shortfall as the reason behind continued importation.

A representative from the PSA committed to reconciling its data with figures from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), which also provides estimates on national rice consumption.

Push for rice sufficiency

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian weighed in on the issue, pushing for more focused efforts to achieve rice sufficiency and improve the country’s competitiveness in rice production.

Presenting data from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Gatchalian noted that while rice production has improved over the years, it has largely plateaued in the last five. 

“This makes it very challenging to achieve rice sufficiency because our rice production is stagnant, and our population is increasing. So our sufficiency is decreasing,” he said.

Despite the stagnation, Gatchalian pointed out that funding for the national rice program has increased consistently. 

He noted that the program's budget will jump from P33 billion in 2025 to P60 billion in 2026, including allocations from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

“It continues to increase over the years. And the goal of RCEP is to achieve rice sufficiency at one point and, at the same time, make us globally competitive,” Gatchalian said.