DA more than doubles聽rice stocks for program
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has more than doubled the rice allocation under the food security emergency, allowing more consumers to purchase cheaper rice.
In Department Circular No. 07, the DA increased the number of bags of rice by over 116 percent to 1.35 million from the initial 625,600 when the DA made the emergency declaration in February.
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The agency expanded the list of beneficiaries to enhance its response to the food security emergency declared more than two months ago to address elevated retail rice prices.
“Recent market monitoring reports and validated requests from various [local governments] nationwide indicate the need to expand the list of beneficiary areas beyond those originally identified …” the memo dated April 8 read.
Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon—two of the leading rice—producing regions in the Philippines-were the latest additions to the agency’s list.
Among the regions, select areas in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) received the highest allocation of 318,737 bags, equivalent to 23.6 percent of the total.
The National Capital Region came next with 21.7 percent and Cagayan Valley with 13.8 percent.
In its criteria, the DA said a local government may be included in the list of beneficiaries if its marketing monitoring shows significant price surges beyond normal fluctuations.
It said formal requests should be backed by substantiated justifications regarding the level of poverty incidence in the area, rice availability and affordability.
Additionally, other economic, environmental, or disaster-related factors affect rice supply, prices and food security in a particular area.
