Water, the lack of it, is what stunts the growth of Philippine agriculture resulting in lower productivity in the crops sector.
Out of the 4.8-million hectares of harvested area for rice, only 1.6-million hectares are served by irrigation systems, both operated by the National Irrigation Administration and communal irrigators.
There is a huge difference in the productivity of areas covered by consistent supply of water. In Nueva Ecija where farmers get their water from Pantabangan Dam, farmers harvest twice a year with production of up to 12 metric tons.
Compare that to the national average rice yield of only 4-metric tons per hectare.
The other problem with the national irrigation program is that it is focused on the rice farms alone neglecting other crops like high-value vegetable, pineapple, bananas and high-value fruits.
Mabagal din ang implementation ng mga irrigation projects because NIA still clings on to the Gravity Irrigation where the water is held by huge dams and released to the farmlands on schedule.
In fact, while the requirement was to irrigate 80,000 hectares every year to cope up with the rice consumption requirements of the country, NIA could only irrigate an estimated 30,000 hectares, or a backlog of 50,000 hectares.
A big part of NIA’s budget is spent for the maintenance of existing irrigation facilities thus limiting its capability to build more systems.
One of the new programs I introduced when I was Agriculture Secretary was the Solar-Powered Irrigation System which, along with other environment-friend and sustainable water generation technology like Ram Pumps, could be built faster and could be managed and maintained by the farmers themselves.
I introduced the first proto-type of a Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) to President Duterte in March of 2017 which was built by a team of friends led by Fil-Am Rocky French, Moses Khu, Winchell Campos and others.
The DA was given a budget in 2018 to build about 200 units but did not get additional funds for 2019.
This was when I talked to President Duterte to ask for permission to negotiate with the Israeli Government for a soft loan which would finance Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems to serve an estimated 500,000.
To my great joy, the Israeli Government approved a P40-B loan while one of the Israeli companies interested to implement the SPIS, built two models in Lumban, Laguna.
The units which were constructed shortly before I resigned from the DA was inaugurated by Sen. Cynthia Villar, my successor Sec. William Dar with then Israeli Ambassador Rafael Harpaz.
That was the last media release I saw of the project and until today, the P40-B loan offer from Israel had not passed through the gauntlet of economic planners and analysts.
To effectively implement a national small water irrigation systems program, Senate must pass a legislation making it a priority program with corresponding funds sourced locally and concessional loans.
Let us irrigate another 2-million hectares under the term of the next President and I am certain that the country would be rice and food sufficient in no time at all.
#FoodGrowsWhereWaterFlows!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
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