Water Flows July 29! LGU-OWNED SOLAR IRRIGATION READY FOR 2ND CROPPING 2021

Rice farmers of Taraka, Lanao del Sur, an old town beside the 34,000-hectare Lake Lanao, will be able to plant a second crop in one year with the opening of the first ever local government-funded Solar Powered Irrigation System on July 29.

The six units of SPIS, funded through a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), will be the first units of Solar-Powered Irrigation to be built in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

These are also the first SPIS to be established under the Mindanao Water Supply Program launched by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), the Department of Interior and Local Government and DBP, the agencies involved in the crafting of the MinDAWater Program.

Taraka Mayor Nashiba Sumagayan and Vice Mayor Odin Sumagayan will lead the opening of the water pipes from the SPIS units designed to irrigate between 600 to 1,000 hectares of rich farmlands.

Mayor Sumagayan is also building a Solar-Powered Water Supply System to provide potable water for the 25,000 population of the town which had relied on their water needs from the Taraka River which meanders through the town proper and dislodges in Lake Lanao.

For the rice farmers of Taraka, this will be a historic event as they had traditionally planted only once a year even if the water of Lake Lanao is just a few kilometers away.

They had relied on rainwater to irrigate their rice farms resulting in very low productivity.

MinDA is also introducing a complete value chain concept for the Rice Industry of Taraka where the farmers will plant, process and market the rice they will produce.

MinDA will invite BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Murad Ebrahim, BARMM-MAFAR Minister Mohamad Yacob and DBP officials led by President Emmanuel G. Herbosa to attend the ceremonial opening of the irrigation valves.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

(Site photos submitted by Claire Billones, MinDA SPIS Program Coordinator)