The price we must pay for food security

The government’s ambitious P20-per-kilo rice promise ignited hope in every Filipino household. To the struggling mother feeding five mouths, the senior citizen living on pension, the daily wage earner whose budget barely lasts a week—this pledge came as a big relief, a lifeline, and a sort of dignity to every struggling Filipino.

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But hope, noble as it is, cannot stand alone. It must be rooted in reality. Because behind every grain of rice is a farmer-sunburned, knee-deep in mud, laboring with no guarantee that his harvest will feed his family, let alone the nation.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the average cost of producing a kilo of palay rose by around seven percent-from P13.54 in 2023 to P14.52 in 2024. In Central Visayas, the cost ballooned to P19.73 per kilo, with the lowest cost recorded in Eastern Visayas P12.59. At these rates, expecting the government to sell rice at P20 per kilo borders on the miraculous, unless it is willing to absorb the financial hit. And it has—subsidizing the price to meet the P20 per kilo promise.