The work continues!

DA CONSTRUCTS 169 UNITS

OF SOLAR IRRIGATION SYSTEM

By Manny Piñol

University Town, Maramag, Bukidnon – People who are complaining about the 93% rice self-sufficiency of the country now should be made to realize that the lack of irrigation facilities is the biggest drawback in achieving greater productivity.

Of the 3.9-million hectares of rice farms in the country, only 1.2-million hectares are effectively irrigated, leaving 2.7-million hectares dependent on rain.

This means that the 2.7-hectares could harvest only once a year and the supply is unreliable.

I have proposed to President Rody Duterte the allocation of P44-B to fund the Solar Powered Irrigation System which the DA has introduced.

The amount would be enough to irrigate 500,000 hectares which could produce an estimated 6-million metric tons of paddy rice or roughly 3-million metric tons of rice every year.

Even with its reduced budget of only P49-B for 2019, DA targets to irrigate about 12,000 hectares next year.

More areas could be irrigated to contribute to rice production but government must invest.

Today, I visited this SPIS project in the Central Mindanao University compound in Maramag.

This will irrigate 66 hectares at a cost of only P8.6-million.

#FoodGrowsWhereWaterFlows!

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