The Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy, Planning, and Regulations, Merceditas Sombilla, admitted that the Philippines is experiencing a rice shortage.

Sombilla made the statement during her appearance before the House Committee on Appropriations for the recent hearing on the DA’s proposed P167.5 billion budget for next year.

According to the DA executive, the buffer stock of rice is not enough since the reserve should last for two to three months to meet the supply.

However, Sombilla said that the buffer stock for this month was only 39 days, while the stock for next month was fine for 44 days.

She said that 63 days will be the expected rice inventory for the month of October, 80 days for November, and 59 days for the month of December.

For the rest of 2023, according to Sombilla, she expects at least seven million metric tons of local paddy production, including 2.3 million MT for the third quarter and 4.7 million MT for the fourth quarter.