Marcos' Agri Promises: A Year After, Have They Yielded Fruit?

A year after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. highlighted agricultural development as a top priority and promised to bring down the retail price of rice to P20 per kilo in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year, the administration's progress on these pledges is being scrutinized. During his 2025 SONA, Marcos stated, "We have proven that we can do P20 rice without our farmers getting shortchanged." He announced plans to allocate P113 billion to strengthen the Department of Agriculture's (DA) programs, to be rolled out nationwide through hundreds of KADIWA stores and centers in various local governments. In response, the DA announced last Wednesday that the "P20 per kilo rice initiative," launched in May last year, has generated P2.4 billion in sales and distributed over 121,271 metric tons of rice to an estimated 12.1 million beneficiaries. This underscores the strong demand for affordable staple food amid elevated living costs. The initiative provides subsidized rice to vulnerable sectors, including senior citizens, persons with disabilities, solo parents, minimum wage earners, public transport workers, indigents, and registered farmers and fisherfolk. Currently, there are 805 active "Benteng Bigas" selling sites nationwide, with 295 having regular selling schedules. Regarding high pork prices, the President had cited declining production due to the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak as the primary cause, proposing solutions such as strengthening local production, distributing piglets and sows, establishing biosecure facilities, and initiating ASF vaccination. However, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that livestock production in 2025 declined by 2.2%, with hog production dropping by 2.7% year-on-year. Hog production in January to March 2026 fell to its lowest level since 1994. Despite this, the average retail price of fresh pork kasim stood at P339.43 per kilo in early July, down from P374.89 per kilo in the same period last year. ASF vaccination is not yet approved for commercial sale and is currently under controlled rollout. On coconut production, Marcos had pledged to ask Congress to amend the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act to better serve farmers and boost exports. The plan includes planting at least 15 million hybrid coconut seedlings this year, aiming for 100 million trees planted nationwide. PSA data as of end-2025 shows coconut production reached 14.506 million metric tons, a slight increase from 14.5 million MT in 2024. However, proposed amendments to the law are still pending at the committee level in Congress. Agricultural groups, while acknowledging the government's efforts, expressed concerns that the continued push for agricultural trade liberalization through lower tariffs and increased imports is undermining local production and discouraging investment. Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) called for the immediate restoration of original tariff schedules for key commodities like rice, corn, pork, and chicken, and the establishment of fully equipped first-border inspection and quarantine facilities. The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) urged for transparency in tariff adjustment processes and the strengthening of the DA's agricultural export development office. These developments highlight the ongoing need for dialogue and collaboration between the government and the private sector to ensure food security and the sustainability of the Philippine agricultural sector.