Balisacan: P20 per kilo of rice possible only if PH increases production

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Wednesday that the P20 per kilo of rice could be attained only if the country increases its rice production.

"Our position has always been that we need to increase productivity in agriculture. All right? What drives low prices are increases in productivity. If you can increase substantially, the productivity of our farms – for example: our current yield per hectare is about four tons per hectare ‘no," Balisacan said.

"Why can’t we raise that to six, to seven tons per hectare… reflect many other countries, right?" he added.

Balisacan said this low price of rice could still be possible. He underscored that if the government will not increase rice production, the local farmers will suffer.

"Our President [made] a promise to reduce the price of rice. That has to be taken in the context that we will do is to increase productivity, because if we reduce the prices of rice at that level without commensurate increase in productivity, who will suffer?" he said.

"It’s the farmers that we are trying to protect, right? So, we should be very careful, that you are looking at this game as comprehensive manner as possible," Balisacan added.

Balisacan also pointed out the need to invest in irrigation, modern high-yielding varieties, pest control and in logistics.

"Unfortunately, those cannot be done overnight ‘no, especially as I was saying earlier – you need investment, you need the private sector to invest in logistics, to invest in post-harvest facilities, we need government to build more irrigation systems, durable and resilient irrigation systems, we need to develop varieties that are resilient to climate change, to floods. You know, those cannot happen overnight," he said.

He stressed that the Philippine government has a lot of "catching up" to do when it comes to making these investments.

"We should have done this, as I said, those investment many years ago ‘no. But there’s a lot of catching-up [to do]. Even the infrastructure that we have just discussed earlier ‘no, many of those are going to be completed beyond 2028, the time of the President," Balisacan said.

Bringing down the rice price to P20 per kilo was the campaign promise of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who also sits as Agriculture Secretary.

Marcos had said the aspiration hinges on fixing the value chain, or the series of stages involved in producing a product or service that is sold to consumers, with each state adding to the value of the product or services.

However, Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian admitted that the P20 per kilo of rice is difficult to achieve. He said the pricing of the Filipino staple depended on how the market would play. —KG, GMA Integrated News