By Manny Piñol
Starting Monday, two trucks of the Department of Agriculture (DA) loaded with at least 1,000 bags of rice in 5 and 10 kilo packs will be deployed to poor neighbourhoods in Metro Manila to sell rice at P38 per kilo.
DA Undersecretary for Agribusiness and Marketing Bernadette Romulo-Puyat will oversee the expanded operations of the Bigas ng Masa TienDA which aims to directly link farmers to the consumers and bring down the prices of basic food commodities like rice.
Yesterday, the Bigas ng Masa Program received a boost from a group of farmers who belong to the Star Capalay Association of Nueva Ecija who committed to deliver 500 bags of 25 kilos every week.
Led by their chairman, outstanding rice farmer Danilo Bolos of Sta. Rosa town, the group brought with them a truck loaded with 350 bags of 25 kilos which they wanted to sell in Metro Manila through the Bigas ng Masa TienDA.
“Yan lang po ang kaya naming dalhin kasi wala po kaming truck. Hiniram lang namin ang truck ng mayor namin,” Bolos told me when I received him and his group in the Office of the Agriculture Secretary.
Other farmers groups from Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos Region, including Pangasinan, have also committed to sell their rice through the Bigas ng Masa TienDA program.
On Monday, two trucks will undertake “surgical rice selling operations” targeting thickly populated districts of Metro Manila starting with Tondo in Manila and Payatas in Quezon City.
Other agricultural products may also be sold along with rice.
The Bigas ng Masa TienDA is an advocacy program of the Agriculture Department which aims to connect farmers directly with the consumers to bring down the prices of food commodities.
While freshly harvested commercial rice is being sold in the market for as high as P50 to P60, the Bigas ng Masa TienDA will maintain a selling price of P38 per kilo.
A study conducted by the Agriculture Department showed that rice should only be sold at a price double the buying price of paddy rice, meaning that if the farmers palay produce is bought at P20 per kilo, the selling price of rice should not be more than P40 per kilo.
The layers and tiers of middlemen and traders who make profits as the supply moves from the farms to the markets, however, have resulted in very high prices of basic food commodities.
The Bigas ng Masa TienDA will soon be offered in the regional offices of the DA in outlets to be operated by farmers themselves with the help of agriculture workers.
From the regions, the Bigas ng Masa TienDA outlets will also be opened in the different municipalities to provide the poor access to fairly priced farm products.
(Photos by Alan Jay Jacalan, DA-AFID)
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