By Manny Piñol
It was the sight of a parched rice field in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur back on May 19 this year which inspired me to think of ways to provide water to areas which do not have access to rivers for irrigation.
The trip which brought me to the impoverished area which was the first leg of my “Biyaheng Bukid” came three days after then President-elect Rody Duterte named me as the agriculture secretary,
Seeing the dried up rice field, I decided to get off my pick up and pondered deeply on what could be done to provide water to areas which do not have access to sources of irrigation water.
That was when I remembered what I saw in my several trips to the desert city of Thermal in Coachella Valley in Southern California where a Filipino-America Tilapia farmer built circular fish tanks.
Using solar panels, Rocky French, grandson of an American soldier who fought in the Philippines and decided to stay behind and married a Filipino, draws water from below the ground which fills his tanks and allow him to raise Tilapia sold live in the market.
He produces extra power from his solar panels which he sells to the power grid thus making additional income.
I immediately called up French by phone and asked him if he could design for me a prototype of a solar powered irrigation system capable of doing the following functions:
1. Draw water from underground or from water impounding and catchment basins.
2. Generate excess power to light up an isolated community, provide potable water supply and generate other livelihood opportunities like vegetable farming during off-planting season for rice.
French immediately asked a young solar power expert, Moses Khu, who goes around the world installing solar panels, to come with him to the Philippines to take a look at the actual situation on the ground.
Before they went back to the US last month, the team promised to build a prototype of a solar panel which could power heavy-duty water pumps.
Early today, as the first 100 days of President Duterte draws near, I called up French to check on the progress of the Solar Powered Irrigation Prototype which he and Khu are assembling using their own resources.
He told me that the prototypes are now ready for shipment by container from California and it would be ready for installation in five areas all over the country.
Actually, the concept of solar-powered irrigation systems is not new. It is already being done in other parts of the world right now.
The only difference between those being used in other countries like India is that the U.S.-assembled prototype is designed not only to pump out water but also to generate excess power for the use of the communities.
If plans do not miscarry, there were will five of these systems operating in the different parts of the country under different conditions before the end of the year.
Once proven cost effective, the solar-powered irrigation system will soon be installed in isolated areas all over the country to contribute to the campaign against poverty and improve food production.
(Photos show the parched rice field in Tukuran, ZDS; the solar-powered tilapia fishponds in the desert of Coachella Valley Southern California; a solar powered water system in India downloaded from indiegogo.com and a diagram of a solar-powered water system downloaded from ozenergy.com.)
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