The Department of Agriculture on Saturday said they are mulling selling "Nutri Rice" in Kadiwa ng Pangulo stores starting January 2025, a variety of brown rice pegged at P38 per kilo.
According to Agriculture Assistant Secretary Genevieve Guevarra, the selling of "Nutri Rice" is part of the Rice-for-All program, a program of the Marcos Jr. administration selling to the general public well-milled rice sourced from rice importers and local traders at a limit of 25 kilos per customer per day.
Aside from "Nutri Rice," the DA official disclosed that they will also sell "Sulit Rice," which is a super broken variety of rice at P36 per kilo.
"Internally, we need to believe in the product. We’re conducting tests to determine its nutritional level compared to regular white rice that we eat. We will not be ashamed to sell them,” according to Guevarra, noting that the plan received positive reactions.
Earlier, the DA said the Rice for All Program, launched in August 2024, seeks to help more Filipino consumers cope with the impact of high food prices, which significantly influence inflation and, consequently, interest rates.
He said the Rice-for-All program will also help the DA prolong the P29 Rice Program.
To date, the P29 Rice Program is in effect in 17 sites of Kadiwa ng Pangulo Stores.
The Agriculture Department stressed that the P29 Rice and Rice-for-All programs are designed to make this essential staple more accessible and affordable for every Filipino, in line with President Marcos’ marching vision of "Walang magugutom sa Bagong Pilipinas.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority on Thursday reported that the country’s headline inflation rate spiked for the second straight month to 2.5 percent in November 2024 against 2.3 percent last October, attributed to the series of tropical cyclones that affected food supply and logistics.