Buenavista, Murcia, Negros Occ. – To see is to believe, an old saying goes.
Yesterday, after a short briefing and orientation on Ram Pumps Technology at the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. Fabrication facility, the team from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) along with a farmer leader from Bukidnon inspected a working system in a mountain village in Murcia.
The visit to the site of an 11-year-old Ram Pump System in Sitio Ananggue, Barangay Buenavista was not easy.
We had to walk about 8 kilometers back and forth, trek down to a stream about 80-meters deep and then back up again on a steep climb.
It was exhausting but what the team saw was worth all the sweat and harships.
Established in a flowing stream, six units of Ram Pumps built 11-years ago by Dutch marine engineer Auke Idzenga and his AIDFI family with the help of the local people push up 120,000 liters of water everyday.
The water serves the needs of 45 families who plant Lemon Grass and Citronella and process these into high value products.
Water is distributed among the residents through Pay Water Stations where residents drop P1 to get 20 liters of water, the water fees going to the village association.
Talaandig farmer leader Ryan Danio whose vegetable producing village, Miarayon in Talakag, Bukidnon needs water to improve their production was amazed with what he saw.
“Puede gyud ni sa amo ba kay daghan ug sapa,” he said as he saw how high the ram pumps could push water up.
(This will really work in our place because we have so many streams.)
Ram Pump System is a 240-year-old technology introduced in Europe which uses hydraulic pressure generated by a water drop to pump up water.
Auke, who has built over 1,000 units in the Philipines and in 14 other countries, has improved on the design allowing his pumps to push up water to a height of 200-meters.
Next week, a technical team from AIDFI will visit the upland towns of Talakag, Sumilao, Lantapan and Impasugong to identify areas where the Ram Pumps could work and provide water for mountain villages.
The four towns have been producing vegetables and high value crops but do not have irrigation systems to sustain production year-round.
The Ram Pumps, along with the Solar Powered Irrigation Systems, are among the technologies introduced by MinDA for its Rural Water Supply Program in Mindanao.
The MinDAWater Program launched Dec. 6 aims to provide every village in Mindanao sources of water for household use and irrigation.
#WalkFartherToDiscover!
#KungGustoMayParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Photos were taken by the MinDA Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao Media Team.)
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