MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to issue an executive order allowing the emergency procurement of palay to stabilize plunging farm-gate prices, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said Monday.

Speaking during the House debates on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) 2026 budget, Tiu Laurel said prices of palay have dropped back to pre-import ban levels, despite a temporary surge after the rice import freeze took effect on September 1.

He noted that farm-gate prices had climbed to about ₱14 per kilo in early September from ₱8–₱10 per kilo, but fell again with the onset of the harvest. In Northern Luzon, where rains and flooding damaged crops, wet palay prices reportedly plunged to as low as ₱6 per kilo.

“This is quite alarming. Over the weekend, everyone in the DA has been at work. I was with President Marcos in Northern Luzon, and these are the decisions that have been made,” Tiu Laurel said.

The measures being finalized include:

• Extending the rice import ban by at least 30 days, possibly until yearend;
• Setting a palay floor price;
• Preparing an EO to raise rice tariffs, currently at 15 percent, once the ban is lifted;
• Barring government agencies and local government units from procuring imported rice;
• Enabling the National Food Authority (NFA) to conduct emergency palay purchases; and
• Allowing the NFA to rent private warehouses to expand storage capacity.

Tiu Laurel, who chairs the NFA Council, said the agency is targeting to procure wet palay at ₱17 per kilo under the emergency program.

He added that rice millers and local traders had recommended extending the import ban by two months, which the DA is considering.

“There is a big possibility it will be extended until the end of this year,” he said.