By Tracy Cabrera
COMING from the lowest average farmgate price for palay in three years at ₱17.44 per kilogram, local rice traders have committed to buy fresh, wet unhusked rice at a minimum price of ₱17/kg and the clean, dry kind at ₱21/kg, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced the commitment as an assurance in improving the country’s rice industry after meeting with stakeholders last week for consultations on ways to address current issues on rice supply that includes trade and market pricing.
Based on current developments, the National Food Authority (NFA) purchases wet palay from farmers at ₱17 to ₱23/kg and dry palay at ₱23 to ₱30/kg.
What causes prices volatility is that wet palay must be dried within 24 hours to prevent spoilage while dry palay can be stored for six to 12 months if moisture content is kept below 14 percent.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) have shown that the average farmgate price for dry palay in December the previous year was ₱18.01/kg. Annual average price was ₱17.70/kg for 2025, the lowest since the ₱17.44/kg price in 2022.
However, during the middle of last year, farmers reported palay farmgate prices dropping to as low as ₱8/kg in some areas in the country, which the DA attributed to a surplus in imports. As a remedy, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. imposed a 60-day rice import moratorium from September until December.
Worth noting, though, is that despite differing opinions, rice traders from Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Pangasinan have now pledged to continue buying wet palay at a minimum of ₱17/kg and wet palay at ₱21/kg, even with the lifting of the imports moratorium.
“Farmer prices are non-negotiable. Whatever import volume we agree on, farmers must be protected,” Tiu Laurel pointed out to stress that the government wants to avoid a crash in farmgate prices during harvest season.
This month of January, palay harvest has actually started in some provinces, including Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya, and this is expected in February in Pangasinan, Ilocos, Bulacan and La Union. Harvesting will peak, the DA added, in mid-March with milling to follow in April.
