The Philippines could spend as much as about $ 570 million this year to keep subsidising low-cost rice for the poor, the agriculture minister said today.
The government spent $ 227.6 million in the first half of the year so that people could buy rice at about 41 US cents per kilo, or around half the market price, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said.
"At the rate we're going, we would go up to $ 569 million minimum, just for rice," he told reporters.
The Philippines produces only about 93 per cent of the rice requirements of its 90 million people, a third of whom live on a dollar a day or less.
Yap said the rice farming sector was under pressure because of the high costs of oil-based fertiliser, which he said accounted for 30 per cent of farmers' production costs.
"Fertiliser usage is down because of the high prices. We are studying its possible impact on production," he said.