The agriculture ministry plans to buy back an additional 100,000 tons of rice from the private sector to replenish the government’s stockpiles, after some of the state rice reserves were released in and after March last year, sources said.

The move comes as government stockpiles remain far below 1 million tons, a level deemed appropriate, raising concerns about food security.

The ministry will also consider shortening the stockpiling period from the current five years to three or four years, which may increase the government’s annual rice purchases, sources said Tuesday.

The government, which has released a total of 590,000 tons since March 2025, decided in September this year to buy back 210,000 tons.…