HOUSE Committee on Agriculture and Food Vice Chairman Luis Raymund 'LRay' Villafuerte said on Monday that the revival of the Masagana 99 program will serve as the cornerstone of the Department of Agriculture's (DA) plan to plant higher-yielding hybrid seeds on 1.5 million hectares of land this dry season.

In order to help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. achieve his goal of lowering the price of rice to as little as P20 per kilo, Villafuerte said that significantly higher palay (unhusked rice) yields from a revived Masagana program will boost the market supply of rice, resulting in lower retail cost.