The Department of Agriculture (DA) has approved the request of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to supply 490,000 sacks of rice from June to December, bolstering the welfare agency’s disaster response and feeding programs for vulnerable communities nationwide.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian thanked Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. for the approval, underscoring the importance of the rice allocation in supporting tens of thousands of at-risk Filipinos.
“We require 35,000 sacks of rice monthly to keep our repacking hubs in Pasay and Cebu operational,” Gatchalian said. “We are grateful that the DA, through the National Food Authority (NFA), has committed to providing this consistent supply for the next several months.”
The move aligns with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for inter-agency collaboration to improve public service delivery. The DSWD is one of several government bodies that regularly source rice from the NFA for social support programs. Secretary Tiu Laurel emphasized the mutual benefit of the arrangement.
“It is actually the DA that should be thanking the DSWD for helping move a significant portion of our stocks. This clears space in our warehouses and allows us to buy more palay from local farmers at fair prices,” he said.
NFA stocks currently exceed 8 million sacks—pushing storage to near capacity. Offloading rice for DSWD and the P20 rice program, a flagship initiative of the Marcos administration, helps sustain procurement and ensures continued farmer support and consumer relief.
