MANILA, April 3 (Bernama) -- The Philippine agriculture chief on Thursday admitted the possibility that rice price in the archipelago might quadruple in the worst case scenario as current rice supply crisis unfolds, China's Xinhua news agency said quoting a local media report.According to TV network GMA News, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the price of rice could soar to 102 pesos (US$2.49) per kilogramme, especially when the costs of growing rice soar with the skyrocketing oil price.

"It depends on price hikes for inputs, production support and gasoline," Yap said.

The Philippines, one of Asia's major rice consumers, is facing a rice supply shortage as big rice producing countries such as Vietnam, Thailand trimmed their rice export this year.

The Philippines secures roughly 10 percent of its rice demand from overseas. The government has hiked this year's import quota from 1.8 million metric tonnes to 2.2 metric tonnes.

To mitigate the impact of soaring rice price, the government announced that the national food authority will bypass retailers to directly sell rice in the market. About 15, 000 licenses issued to accredited rice retailers are expected to be revoked.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also ordered a rise in unhusked rice purchase price as an incentive to encourage rice farmers to grow more. The farm gate price of unhusked rice has been raised from 12 pesos (US$0.29) a kilogramme to 17 pesos (US$0.41).

Earlier this week, Arroyo also agreed to release crisis-solving subsidies of 5 billion pesos (US$122 million), about 5 percent of last year's budget surplus, to rice farmers.

BERNAMA