Prov’l Gov’t to Start Selling P20 Per Kilo Rice This Weekend

The provincial government of Negros Occidental will start selling P20 per kilo rice this weekend in Pulupandan.

Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Mondaybsaid an initial 50 sacks of rice will be sold.

The governor clarified that they will directly purchase rice supplies from local farmers through the Federation of Irrigators’ Association of Central Negros-Bago River Irrigation System (FIACN- BRIS).

He said that so far, they have not received communication from the National Food Authority regarding the availability of supply of rice.

He believes that the agency has prioritized Bacolod City, which started selling P20 per kilo rice last week.

After Pulupandan, the rolling store program will be implemented in other local government units in the province, Lacson said.

More than P3 million will be subsidized by the provincial government covering the operational expenses of FIACN-BRIS for this program.

The provincial government and FIACN-BRIS have an existing partnership where they sell P25 pesos per kilo of rice at the Food Terminal Market of Occidental Negros (FTMON) located in Bacolod City.

Lacson pointed out that the P20/kilo rice “is a continuation of the partnership but at a lower price.”

Lacson assured that they are ready to buy rice from the NFA for the continuation of the program if they have an available supply of rice and the provincial government allocated P7 million for the program.*