P20 per kilo rice achievable, says outgoing DAR chief

MANILA, Philippines — Outgoing Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz has maintained that the aspiration of president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to sell rice at P20 per kilo could still be realized amid supervening events such as the rising prices of fuel.

In an interview with One News’ “The Chiefs” on Wednesday night, Cruz said their initial study showed the cost of production of rice could go down from P12 to P9 per kilo under the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)’s proposed Programang Benteng Bigas sa Mamamayan through the Mega Farm project.

“It (production cost) can still go down to P7. If we can implement mass production, the P20 per kilo retail price is achievable,” Cruz said in Filipino.

“We conducted an initial study, and it was successful. The problem is how we can implement it on a massive scale,” he added.

Abono party-list Rep. Conrado Estrella III, who accepted the nomination to be the next DAR secretary, however said it would be hard to realize the P20 per kilo retail price of rice right now due to the soaring prices of oil, although he vowed to study the DAR proposal.

Estrella said a retail price of around P27 to P28 per kilo could be feasible.

“The P20 (per kilo), I think it would be hard to achieve that right now, because as you know, the prices of oil have been increasing. Perhaps, we can achieve P27 to 28 (per kilo). As to the P20 per kilo proposal, we will study it,” Estrella told journalists on the sidelines of the International Farmers Summit in Pasay City yesterday.

He said that during his conversation with Marcos on Wednesday, the president-elect reiterated his intention to lower the prices of rice, but was realistic about it.

“I’d like to correct the notion that he (Marcos) has committed to do it. He is so realistic about it. He told me ‘this is our aspiration (to lower the price of rice)’,” Estrella, grandson and namesake of the agrarian reform minister during martial law years, said.

He said he personally believes that significant reduction of rice retail price is possible “if you do serious pencil-pushing.”

In a press statement, the DAR said that under its proposed PBBM Mega Farm project, about 150,000 hectares of land covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and its adjacent small farm lots would be planted with rice to achieve mass production.

“The Mega Farm is a cluster of contiguous farms that are consolidated to form a sizeable plantation capable of producing a large volume of farm products to meet the demands of consumers,” Cruz said.

“From the studies we conducted in the mega-farms project, we found out that not only is the P20-a-kilo rice achievable, but is also profitable for our agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs),” he added.

Based on its studies, the DAR said the Mega Farm project could produce an average of 142 cavans of rice per hectare per cropping season.

“This translates to a gain of P76,501 annually for ARBs,” it said.

Cruz said the DAR, through the Mega Farm project, is pushing for the provision of subsidies to augment the cost of production inputs of the farmers.

“Other farmers’ concerns can be inputted into the DAR’s proposal before this will be presented to the president-elect,” Cruz added. –  Rhodina Villanueva