The Negros Occidental provincial government is prepared to allocate an initial P10 million as its counterpart subsidy for the sale of rice at P20 per kilo, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said on Thursday, May 15.
They can replenish the amount when needed, he added.
They are already preparing the groundwork to commence the sale of rice at P20 a kilo, Diaz assured.
Senior citizens, persons with disabilities, indigents and those under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program can avail of the P20 per kilo rice, DA Regional Director Jose Albert Barrogo of the Negros Island Region, said.
Under the program each family can buy 10 kilos of the P20 rice per week, he said.
The Food Terminal Incorporated will buy rice from the National Food Authority at P33 per kilo. The P13 difference will then be subsidized by the Department of Agriculture and local government unit, Barrogo said.
Diaz said the provincial government has allocated P7 million as its counterpart fund for the purchase of rice from the National Food Authority to be sold to Negrenses at P20 a kilo.
They are also preparing the groundwork for the purchase of rice from the province’s irrigators association to be included in the P20 per kilo program, he said.
The provincial government will allocate about P3 million for that, Diaz said.
In the past the provincial government through the irrigators association has sold rice to indigents at P25 a kilo, he pointed out.*