DA: 29 pesos per kilo of rice for everyone requires over 50 billion pesos per year

The Philippines needs to spend more than 50 billion pesos a year to reduce the price of rice on “everyone’s plate” to 29 pesos a kilo, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.

Agriculture Undersecretary Asis Perez made the remarks before a joint congressional investigation into rising food prices, smuggling, price manipulation and hunger.

Perez was asked why rice worth P29 per kilo was only sold to the poorest of the poor and senior citizens under the Kadiwa program.

“Putting 29 pesos on the table for everyone would require enormous resources from the government and the fiscal space is limited for us,” Perez said.

“That is why we need to prioritize who will be the recipient of the cheap rice and we have focused on the vulnerable sector,” he added.

“If fiscal space is not limited… that would be ideal. But considering that it will probably require P50 billion or even more per year, this is probably not a problem,” Perez said.

(It would be really, really hard for us to pull this off.)

However, Perez said the government will reach out to as many people as possible in the vulnerable sectors to provide rice at 29 pesos per kilo.

Senior science researcher Mildred Guirindola of the State Food and Nutrition Research Institute said 80% of Filipinos cannot afford a healthy diet.

“In general, we lack most of our food. Filipinos have enough protein, but that’s because our staple food, rice, is also high in protein. We get our protein from our staple foods. But when we talk about healthy eating, about 80% of Filipinos cannot afford healthy foods. This is based on the FAO data,” said Guirindola.

The FAO is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

“This is because fruits, vegetables, fish and meat are very expensive and poor Filipinos cannot afford them,” she added.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Albay Rep. Joey Salceda then said that Congress should take action on FNRI disclosure as soon as possible.

“We should have this data photocopied and sent to us because there could be more to it,” Salceda said.

“There are laws that guarantee that every Filipino family has food on the table, but for many this is still a dream. We want to expose the gaps that we need to close to achieve this goal and, if necessary, expose the personalities who should be held responsible for making this goal difficult to achieve,” he added.

The superbody was formed following the adoption of House Resolution 254 introduced by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

The supercommittee consists of the House Committees on Ways and Means, Commerce and Industry, Agriculture and Food, Human Services, and the Special Committee on Food Security. —NB, GMA Integrated News