To mark the rollout in Cebu, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. personally manned the KADIWA ng Pangulo (KnP) booth, distributing the first few kilos of rice sourced from the National Food Authority’s (NFA) buffer stock. The rice is being sold at a subsidized rate of P20 per kilo under the KnP20 program—a flagship initiative aligned with the broader KADIWA framework.
Also during the roll out, Food Terminal Inc. and the Provincial Government of Cebu signed a memorandum of agreement on the shared subsidy of the P20 rice initiative pilot test in the province. The pilot test, which will run until December, will cover other regions in the Visayas and should benefit around 800,000 households or 4 million people.
The KnP20 label distinguishes the program from the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) other rice initiatives, such as the “Rice-for-All” pilot, currently underway in parts of the Visayas and other regions. In the latter, rice subsidies are jointly funded by local government units and the DA’s Food Terminal Inc. ### (Photos by Jay Morales, DA-OSEC)
