By Manny Piñol
A National Irrigation Map which will identify additional areas which could be utilised for food production with the needed water supply will be crafted today by an Inter-Agency Committee led by the Department of Agriculture.
The meeting which will start at 9 a.m. today will be participated in by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management.
The National Irrigation Map (NIM) will initially identify the first 500,000 hectares where the 6,200 units of Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) proposed by an Israeli agro-industrial company will be established.
The NIM will also include the plotting of an additional area of about 2-million hectares which were identified by the DA Regional Offices as “undulating and slightly sloping” areas which could be used for rice farming with available irrigation water.
The total rice farming area of the country now is about 3.9-million hectares but only 1.2-million hectares are effectively served by irrigation facilities and could plant twice a year.
The remaining 2.7-million hectares depend largely on the rain for irrigation and could only plant and harvest once a year with very low yield because the unpredictability of the water supply.
In today’s meeting, the Inter-Agency Group formed on orders of President Rody Duterte will draw the NIM where irrigation facilities, mainly Solar-Powered Irrigation systems, will be established to prepare for the next El Niño and to increase the country’s rice and high value crops production as the world faces increased hunger incidence by 2030.
The Inter-Agency Group will also finalise its recommendation for the deliberation by the NEDA-ICC of the proposal of Israel’s LR Group to extend a 10-year loan of P44-B for the establishment of 6,200 units of SPIS.
NEDA Director General, Sec. Ernesto Pernia, has committed to prioritise the deliberation on the proposed SPIS Project as part of the government’s preparation for the next El Niño.
(Photos of the first meeting of the Inter-Agency Group on Irrigation held last month were taken by Diane Faith Garcia.)
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