DOST: Sustaining P20/kilo rice depends on inflation, efficiency

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that sustaining the P20-per-kilo rice program would depend on inflation and efficiency of production.

During the 47th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) on Wednesday, DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said that maintaining the P20 pricing until 2030 was impossible, but it was possible to carry the equivalent value of the price and reduce the cost of rice.

“We have to look at that in a long-term perspective and P20 have to be accounted also with inflation over time. Our objective is to reduce the cost of production similar to that will be competitive with other countries. If we can carry the equivalent of P20 by 2030 or 2035, it is possible to reduce the cost, but it will depend on how much also we will become more productive and efficient in our rice production. ‘Yun ang challenge sa akin,” he said.

Solidum added that he believed that the Philippines had the technology to make it happen, but that the market must also be considered.

“You have to look at the whole value chain, make it efficient. There is also something to do with how do we cluster, that’s why in the current rice program ng department of agriculture there are several studies… You have to look at the whole value chain, different strategies improving the whole value chain,” he said.

“We have to have our discipline approaches mainstream and scale up.  From my experience, just like what they have said, if you look at science, if you look at technology, we have the best probably in Southeast Asia, even in rice, in many areas, [but] there is a different challenge to us. It can be more difficult but I think it's manageable. We're focused,” he added.

Solidum also said that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was not aiming for 100% sufficiency in rice, and that the Philippines will still have to import rice.

“[The President] mentioned several times [that] they're only aiming for 95%. We know also that whether we like it or not, we have to import rice. There are rice that we have to buy from outside because we cannot produce it here,” he said.

“Besides that, we have to start exporting rice in the future to make it profitable for our farmers. Then the President knows that as far as I know. In the future, we have to export rice also, as we import rice that are cheaper and also maybe to meet your lower price,” he added.

Ultimately, Solidum said that the country and DOST’s objective was to make farmer income more profitable. — BM, GMA Integrated News