The prices of rice will soon stabilize as the harvest season for palay has already started in some areas, the Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas said Thursday, September 14.
DA-6 assistant regional director Jose Albert Barrogo said that even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the concurrent Agriculture Secretary, said that if rice prices stabilize, he will lift Executive Order No. 39.
The executive order, which took effect on September 5, implemented a price ceiling on regular milled rice at P41 per kilo, and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice.
Barrogo said Western Visayas is 100 percent rice self- sufficient.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that Western Visayas produced 667,020.89 metric tons (MT) of rice in the first quarter of 2023, marking a 3.21 percent increase in the production compared to the same period in the previous year.
This makes Western Visayas the second largest rice producer in the first quarter of this year.
Earlier, Marcos said that rice prices in the country are expected to stabilize as harvest in Nueva Ecija, Isabela, and North Cotabato has started.
Their rice production is expected to augment the supply of the country's prime staple food.*