{"id":22341,"date":"2025-04-28T09:49:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=22341"},"modified":"2025-04-28T09:55:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:55:51","slug":"the-ph-rice-program-at-20-peso-kg-draws-embattled-vice-presidents-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/04\/28\/the-ph-rice-program-at-20-peso-kg-draws-embattled-vice-presidents-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"The PH rice program at 20 peso\/kg draws embattled Vice President\u2019s comments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vice President Sara Duterte of the PH has kicked a hornet\u2019s nest after suggesting that the 20 peso ($0.35)-per-kg rice ought to be \u201cfit for human consumption.<\/u><\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte, who awaits an impeachment trial just before upcoming elections, reiterated that such cheap palay is often for pigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh from a Hague visit, where her former President father faces trial, Duterte connected the marginal\u00a0rice price<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to electioneering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She further demanded the reason the offer will only be for the Viyasas, an archipelago in south-central Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the Department of Agriculture (DA)\u2019s secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. expressed departmental hurt from the VP\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurel Jr. further affirmed that even officials eat the same rice that the National Food Authority (NFA) sources locally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Malaca\u00f1ang (presidential palace) had previously referred to the 20-peso rice as the same as the 33 peso ($0.59) equivalent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadiwa centers, where locals receive cheap palay, including in Quezon City near Manila, are busy preparing for supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The south-central Philippines Cebu city will kick-start sales on May 1, 2025, according to the presidential palace\u2019s press office<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFA\u2019s sales via Kadiwa centers will be continuous while limiting purchases to 40 kg per family, monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although protracted since a campaign promise by President Fernand Marcos Jr., the program aims to make rice universally accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, like VP Duterte suggested, the program is starting only in the Visayas. This is because the government is still combing for funds to manage a nationwide distribution. And as the statistics below indicate, a national rollout matters in a country with quite high rice consumption<\/u><\/a> level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PH Rice Consumption Statistics<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0biggest rice-consuming nation at 190.1 kg per capita (2021), the Philippines\u2019 food culture centers on rice. Below presentation, courtesy of the\u00a0Helgi Library<\/u><\/a>\u00a0illustrates how rising rice consumption has soared in 5 decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year<\/strong><\/td>Consumption [kg\/per person per year]<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2020<\/td>188<\/td><\/tr>
2010<\/td>172<\/td><\/tr>
2000<\/td>104<\/td><\/tr>
1990<\/td>93.8<\/td><\/tr>
1980<\/td>96.8<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With this high consumption rate that has been rising since 1980, rice cultivation and distribution has created ample jobs. According to\u00a0ASEAN<\/u><\/a>, around 2 million families in the PH have rice-related employment, as of 2018. This is because\u00a090%<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of supplies come from local producers. In spite of reliance on domestic sources, the country is a top 2 importer of rice worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the per capita, the annual total volume has been rising. While the consumption volume was 13.4 million tonnes in 2018, by 2030 the government was projecting\u00a015.88 million tonnes<\/u><\/a>\u00a0by 2030. This target is already overboard: the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected consumption at\u00a016.5 million tonnes<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice President Sara Duterte of the PH has kicked a hornet\u2019s nest after suggesting that the 20 peso ($0.35)-per-kg rice ought to be \u201cfit for human consumption.\u201d Duterte, who awaits an impeachment trial just before upcoming elections, reiterated that such cheap palay is often for pigs. Fresh from a Hague visit, where her former President…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe PH rice program at 20 peso\/kg draws embattled Vice President\u2019s comments - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/04\/28\/the-ph-rice-program-at-20-peso-kg-draws-embattled-vice-presidents-comments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The PH rice program at 20 peso\/kg draws embattled Vice President\u2019s comments - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vice President Sara Duterte of the PH has kicked a hornet\u2019s nest after suggesting that the 20 peso ($0.35)-per-kg rice ought to be \u201cfit for human consumption.\u201d Duterte, who awaits an impeachment trial just before upcoming elections, reiterated that such cheap palay is often for pigs. 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