Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. recently met with regional managers and key officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) to ensure the rice sold under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s P20-per-kilo rice program meets high quality standards.
Tiu Laurel, who also chairs the NFA Council, stressed the subsidized rice program presents an opportunity for the agency to change the long-standing perception that NFA rice is of poor quality—an opinion still shared by some critics and politicians.
“This is our chance to change how people view NFA rice,” he said. “We want to show that the rice we provide to those in need is not only affordable, but also tasty, nutritious, and just as good as, if not better than, some imported varieties.”
Tiu Laurel also pointed out that the initiative highlights the quality of rice grown by Filipino farmers. Under the Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA no longer imports rice for buffer stocking. Instead, it focuses on purchasing palay from local farmers to support domestic production and ensure fair pricing.
Since the launch of the P20 rice initiative on May 1, along with the P29 program last year, many have praised the improved quality of NFA rice. To further support local farmers, Tiu Laurel instructed NFA managers to identify areas where traders purchase rice at low prices.
This will allow the agency to extend its procurement efforts at the upcoming harvest season and prevent unscrupulous traders from exploiting farmers. The DA chief stressed that President Marcos is committed to ensuring that the subsidized rice program benefits farmers and does not become a loophole for dishonest traders.
President Marcos had earlier directed the DA to expand the rice program to benefit the most number of Filipinos, and sustain the P20 initiative until the end of his term in June 2028.
The NFA is increasing its fleet of trucks and expanding storage and drying capacity to purchase more rice from farmers, especially in hard-to-reach areas.
The agency still has over P9.8 billion available for palay procurement this year—an amount that could buy palay that would yield 5 million 50-kilo bags of rice. NFA has current inventory equivalent to 8 million bags of rice, with half of that stock bought during the first four months of this year.
