At 4 a.m. today, I took a 2-hour trip from Quezon City to Lumban, Laguna to check on two Israeli-made Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems which were constructed shortly before I resigned from the Department of Agriculture.
The two units of SPIS, one designed to irrigate 5 to 10 hectares and the other from 30 to 50 hectares, were donated by the Israeli company LR Group as proto-types of the systems which I wanted to be built all the country to cover 500,000 hectares.
The project was supposed to be covered by a P44-B loan from Israel which was already available before I left DA but which has not been accessed two years after the project was packaged.
I visited the two sites today because I wanted to check on the efficiency of the Israeli-made SPIS for possible implementation in Mindanao.
Lumban Mayor Rolando Obatay and several workers of the regional DA Office told me that the units worked efficiently and the farmers are able to plant twice a year.
I am currently working on a scheme where farmers who would like to avail of these efficient SPIS could do so without waiting for national government funds anymore.
When finalized, this will enable our rice farmers in Mindanao to plant twice a year.
(Video taken by Argie Leparto, Mindanao Development Authority.)
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