The Negros Occidental provincial government will start selling P20 per kilo rice this weekend sourced from a farmer-irrigators group, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, June 9.
The sale will start in Pulupandan town this weekend, and after that they will be visiting other local government units, he said.
There will be 50 sacks of rice allocated for the P20 per kilo rice program this month, he said.
Lacson said they have not heard from the National Food Authority informing them that they are ready to provide rice to the province for the P20 per kilo rice program.
“I guess it’s because they prioritized Bacolod,” he said.
“We are not waiting for NFA anymore, the provincial government is sourcing its rice for the program from the Federation of Irrigators Association of Central Negros-Bago River Irrigation System (FIACN-BRIS),” he said, adding that they have allocated P3 million for the purpose.
The province has been helping FIACN-BRIS with labor costs, which is why the group is able to sell cheap rice.
FIACN-BRIS has sold rice several times at P25 pesos per kilo in Negros and will be able to bring it down to P20 per kilo, Lacson said.
The provincial government also has P7 million available for NFA rice, he said.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod City government through the City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office has brought the sale of the P20 per kilo rice to the barangays.
CCLDO head Brenda Burdeos said they started selling the cheap rice in barangays 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 in Bacolod City on Monday.*