00:00 The Department of Agriculture is eagerly anticipating the upcoming harvest season in September,
00:05 hoping for a positive outcome as they keep their fingers crossed that this season will result in a lower price of rice,
00:11 making it more affordable for consumers and the market.
00:14 Clazel Pardilia supplies us with the details.
00:17 Students flocked to this eatery in Cabao City today.
00:23 They say it offers affordable food.
00:26 For instance, despite the all-time high prices of staple grain,
00:30 a serving of rice sold here still sells for 13 pesos over the last three years.
00:37 We want to keep the price of rice as it is.
00:40 We'll go for it if we're on a budget.
00:43 But Sanko, the owner of the food house, says,
00:46 We're not that poor.
00:49 As you can see, we're not as poor as before.
00:51 Our rice is expensive.
00:54 That's why the price of rice has dropped.
00:55 Not all food stalls can withstand the stifling creep of inflation.
01:00 So when Anil noticed how cost of a serving of rice in his favorite food house went up,
01:05 I don't want to go down so that I can save money for my rice.
01:09 According to some retailers, they feel set a rise in the price of staple food like regular meal drives.
01:16 It was cheap back then. It was 46 pesos per kilo. Now, it's only 900 pesos per kilo.
01:27 It's more than that now. It's more than half of the price.
01:31 The price monitoring of the Agriculture Department shows,
01:35 a kilo of rice ranges as low as 42 pesos to as high as 65 pesos a kilo depending on the variety.
01:44 The good news, the Department of Agriculture projects,
01:48 prices of rice will drop come September when harvest season begins.
01:52 But if there's a lot of supply, the price should go down.
01:57 The DA Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service is in close coordination with rice cooperatives in Luzon
02:04 to help them bring their produce at Kadiwa stores and temper the price of rice.
02:09 We will provide logistic assistance like the ones we have done before.
02:14 We will help with the transport from the source to the demand center
02:20 so that we can bring our produce to the National Capital Region,
02:23 which is a lower and affordable price.
02:26 To ensure a sufficient buffer stock of rice,
02:30 the National Food Authority started its mobile procurement of rice in different provinces of the country.
02:37 No destruction to agriculture has been recorded thus far as a result of Super Typhoon Guring's onslaught.
02:44 But Super Typhoon Egay and the Habagat left 11 billion pesos in damage to agriculture.
02:51 Because of these major weather disturbances, some rice farmers weren't able to replant.
02:57 The DA is now focused in providing assistance to affected farmers.
03:02 And distribution of water pumps, climate-resistant rice seeds, and high-value crop seeds,
03:09 which can be alternative to rice should irrigation not be sufficient during El Niño.
03:15 While we are focused on areas that are affected,
03:18 we are also focused on areas that are not affected, but we can maximize production.
03:24 Kalei za pohardilya for the nation!
