Rice at P20 per kilo still attainable —Bersamin

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin expressed confidence on Tuesday that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s promise of lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo will soon materialize.

“Hindi ko naman sinasabing matagal na ma-attain iyan; hindi ko rin sinasabing madaling ma-attain iyan. But I am saying that I am very confident that for as long as government is doing things right to attain these goals, that aspiration may soon be realized. Bakit hindi?” Bersamin said in an interview on CNN Philippines as cited by the Presidential Communications Office

According to Bersamin, the national government is exhausting all efforts to maximize the production levels of areas that are known to produce rice.

"Those areas that are producing rice, we try to maximize iyong production levels nila. That’s another thing that we are doing now in order to reach that aspiration," Bersamin said.

He mentioned that there are also other factors to consider such as the weather conditions, climate change, and the El Niño phenomenon that could have direct effect on the country's agricultural production.

Bersamin did not mention any timeline as regards lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo.

It was Marcos' campaign promise to reduce the price of rice to as low as P20 per kilo.

He said the aspiration hinges on fixing the value chain, or the series of stages involved in producing a product or service that is sold to consumers, with each state adding to the value of the product or service.

Kadiwa stores

Marcos in his State of the Nation Address on Monday indicated that he was looking to further expand his administration’s Kadiwa stores initiative nationwide in a bid to lower prices of food and other agricultural commodities.

He cited the role of Kadiwa stores —an initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to directly connect food producers to consumers to bring down costs— in easing the prices of rice, meat, fish, vegetables, and sugar.

“Napatunayan natin na kayang mapababa ang presyo ng bigas, karne, isda, gulay, at asukal. Malaking tulong ang Kadiwa stores na ating muling binuhay at inilunsad,” the President said.

(It was proven that we can lower the prices of rice, meat, fish, and sugar. Kadiwa stores, which we revived and launched, played a huge role.)

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed food inflation, which tracks price movements in a “basket” of foods commonly purchased by households, declined for the fifth consecutive month in June at 6.7% from 7.5% in May. 

Cheaper commodities

“Maganda ang nakita nating resulta kaya papalawigin pa natin ang Kadiwa sa buong bansa,” Marcos said.

(The results were convincing, that is why we will be expanding Kadiwa all over the country.)

“Ang layunin ng Kadiwa ay pag ugnayin ang mga magsasaka at mga mamimili nang walang iba pang namamagitan, walang dagdag na gastos at patong,” the President said.

(The aim of Kadiwa is to link farmers and consumers, without any other intervention, thereby decreasing costs and prices.)

The chief executive said that so far there are 7,000 Kadiwa stores nationwide, which provided cheaper commodities to about 1.8 million families.

Marcos said that Kadiwa stores generated nearly P700 million sales and provided livelihood to members of over 3,000 cooperatives. —Anna Felicia Bajo/LDF/NB, GMA Integrated News