A Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) in Manubuan, Matalam, Cotabato, constructed in 2018 when I was Agriculture Secretary, has enabled a community of Ilocano farmers to harvest three times a year, increasing their yield from 3-metric tons per hectare once a year to 7-metric tons or an annual production of 21 metric tons.
Officials of Zamboanga Sibugay led by Vice Governor Rey Olegario, 12 Board Members and four mayors who joined the three-day discovery journey of best practices in rural development were amazed at the revelation of Irrigators’ Association Chairman Tranquilino Polanco during a briefing held at the SPIS site yesterday.
Polanco, former vice mayor of Matalam and a retired public school teacher, said the Manubuan SPIS which became controversial before the 2019 elections when critics of the SPIS program claimed that it was not working, said the lives of the people in the community changed with the establishment of the SPIS.
The Manubuan SPIS, costing P6.8-M, was the first operational unit built after President Rodrigo Duterte launched the Solar-Powered Irrigation System Program of the DA in March of 2017.
Polanco said during a long dry spell in 2019, the water impounding area from where the water for irrigation was sourced dried up prompting some critics to claim that the project was a failure.
The resourceful and industrious Ilocano farmers, however, expanded and deepened the water catchment and bore a deepwell beside the reservoir as backup source in case of a long drought.
Today, Polanco and his group are able to harvest three times every year from the 25-hectare service area which could be expanded when the Irrigators’ Association had raised enough funds to buy more pipes.
Zamboanga Sibugay officials said the Solar Powered Irrigation System which the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) is promoting as part of the Mindanao Water Supply Program could be replicated in many rice farming communities in the province where the lack of water had limited the production capacity of farmers.
The SPIS facility in Manubuan, Matalam was the second model of agricultural innovations that they were exposed to yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, I personally briefed them on the prospects of Upland Hybrid Rice Farming by showing them the model plot in my farm which used pressurized irrigation and fertigation.
Last night, General Santos City Mayor Ronel Rivera welcomed the Zamboanga Sibugay officials in a dinner.
Today, the officials will visit the General Santos City Fish Port, the Cattle Fattening Feedlot in Polomolok and later this afternoon the Malalag Fish Cages in Davao del Sur.
The Mindanao Development Authority arranged the exposure trip of the Zamboanga Sibugay officials, especially the three mayors in Olutanga Island, as part of the preparation for the crafting of the Master Plan for the Development of the Island and the province.
#mentoringinthefields!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Photos by Kath Bahinting, MinDA OC)
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