P20/kilo rice achievable in long-term

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilo is “not possible” in the near-term, according to incoming Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III.

“I don’t think it is [possible] in the very near future; it’s not possible. But you know how technology is,” he added, hinting that rice selling at P20 per kilo may still be achievable.

Marcos said that the P20/kilo rice is an “aspiration” for his administration.

Estrella, who is a farmer, said he discussed with his fellow tillers if they could lower the farm gate price to below P10.

“It can’t be; the price can only go (as) low as far as P14. When it arrives at millers and retailers, the price could be P28,” Estrella said.

Outgoing Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz earlier said that bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo in the country is achievable through mega-farm projects that may be put in place as early as the second quarter of 2023.

Under the concept, smaller farms would be consolidated into mega-farms to undertake rice production more efficiently, using machinery as the United States has been doing for decades.

Cruz had said, “From the studies we conducted in the mega-farm project, we found out [that] not only is the P20-a-kilo rice achievable, but it will also be profitable for our agrarian reform beneficiaries.”

Under the mega-farms project, Cruz said the DAR has developed the sub-project called “150,000 hectares of land for rice production for price reduction.”

During the campaign, Marcos said among his plans were to recommend a price cap to lower the price of rice to P20 to P30 per kilo.

To make this possible, he said a thorough inventory of rice harvest is needed.

Estrella stressed the P20 per kilo of rice was not a mere campaign promise of Marcos, saying that the next Chief Executive is “committed” to doing it. The former partylist lawmaker revealed that the President-elect offered him either the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), being the grandson of the first DAR chief Conrado Estrella Sr. who served as agrarian minister of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from 1971 to 1986.