At least 149 farmers from four villages in four towns of this province are benefitting from the PHP20-million irrigation project turned over on Tuesday by the government through the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Farmer-beneficiaries such as Arnel Valera, president of the Barangay Binasaran Farmers Irrigators Association Inc. in Malibcong town, noted that irrigation has enabled them to plant twice a year since last year, when the NIA project began.
“We are not so hard up with the water we need for the farm. With the irrigation provided by the NIA, we thank God for the benefit. We hope that more projects will come so that the entire barangay will be irrigated,” Valera said in Ilocano in an interview.
For every hectare of land planted with rice, a farmer could harvest at least 30 sacks or double the amount with the two cropping seasons, he said, adding that constant water supply also makes vegetable growing possible.
Following the irrigation project turnover in their village, Valera assured that his 32-member association will take care of the project, noting that it will not only benefit their families but the community as a whole.
Tuesday’s turnover benefited three other irrigators’ associations – Upper Taduan Agabaab Farmers Irrigators Association in Luba, Abra, with 11 hectares of irrigation; the Pawan Nagtipulan Lagangilang Farmers Irrigators Association whose members own collectively 15 hectares; and the Brgy. Villa Mercedes Farmers Irrigators Association in San Quintin which also own 15 hectares of irrigated land.
Valera’s group, meanwhile, farms on a 15-hectare irrigated land.
Engr. Benito Espique, NIA-CAR director, said the irrigation projects “are in support of the national food production program to increase food production by increasing the farmlands, especially in rice-producing areas like here in Abra.”
Espique said the region’s farmland potential is 185,000 hectares with about 92,000 already irrigated.
For 2024, he said NIA-CAR has asked for PHP1.9 billion for irrigation projects, with the bulk of the amount going to the province of Kalinga, the rice granary of the Cordillera. (PNA)
