Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Tuesday bared plans to establish “permanent” and farmer cooperatives-run Kadiwa stores to further advance the administration’s food security and affordability targets.

During the post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum, Laurel said the DA aims to build 1,500 Kadiwa stores in the next three years to serve all municipalities and cities nationwide in compliance with the directives of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ensure sustainable operations of Kadiwa centers to provide cheaper agricultural goods to Filipinos.

“Ang gagawin natin ay ile-level up natin from mere pop-up stores, gagawin nating (What we will do is to level up from mere pop-up stores, we will establish) permanent brick and mortar stores from all over the Philippines,” he said.

In the long run, he said the operations of Kadiwa stores would be under farmers’ and fisherfolks’ cooperatives to ensure that wholesalers and retailers will be “honest,” and help prevent profiteering.

“Ang plano natin is maging cooperative-run ito eventually. So iyong mga farmers at fishers mismo ay makaka-diretso sa consumers para lumaki ang kita ng farmers at fisherman at bumaba naman ang bilihin (Our plan is to eventually make it cooperative-run. So, our farmers and fishers will directly go to our consumers so they can increase their income while lowering price of basic goods),” Laurel said.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), meanwhile, vowed to mobilize local government units to help realize these programs and advance the administration’s food security and economic development.

Agri-fishery production

Laurel, meanwhile, expressed optimism in hitting the country’s agri-fishery production growth with the help of irrigation infrastructures.

This is despite the effects of the El Niño phenomenon and the looming La Niña.

”We have more irrigated lands as mentioned by the President. In Jalaur, 32,000 hectares and another 45,000 hectares na nabigyan ng (that were given with) solar irrigation that will definitely increase production,” he said.

”Sa La Niña naman as long as walang malaking bagyo, I think naman mas mataas ang produksyon (For La Nina as long as there’s no strong storm, I think we will have higher production),” he said, hoping to hit a 1 to 2 percent growth performance for 2024.

The DA earlier expressed confidence in achieving 20.4 million metric tons (MMT) of palay (unhusked rice) production for the year, higher than last year’s 20.06 MMT production.

Rice imports

Laurel said the country’s lowering of tariffs on imported rice would not result in 4.7 MMT of rice importation, as projected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Marcos administration earlier approved the reduction of tariff on imported rice from 35 to 15 percent under Executive Order No. 62.

”I don’t think the lowering of tariffs will really increase importation. There’s no real bearing in my opinion. The only reason na mag-i-increase ang (to increase the) importation is because of demand not because of lowering of tariffs,” Laurel said.

As of July 11, the DA has reported the arrival of 35,594 MT of imported rice from around 302 approved sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance under the lowered tariffs.

To date, the country’s imported rice is now at 2.37 million MT. (PNA)