Gov’t gives water facilities to Cordillera farmers

BAGUIO CITY — The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) offices in the Cordillera are distributing water facilities to farmers to irrigate the fields amid the El Niño or prolonged dry spell.

“We have already implemented water management on the four National Irrigation System (NIS). We are [also] ensuring that there will be strict water distribution and delivery plan on the NIS,” Fremer William, a NIA hydrologist in the region said on Thursday.

William said the four NIS are West Apayao-Abulog irrigation system, Upper Chico River irrigation system, Hapid irrigation system, and Abra River irrigation system.

He said as an immediate response to the effects of the dry spell, the two agencies are commissioning cloud-seeding operations to induce rain.

He said NIA had been continuously mending paddy dikes and urging the farmers to adopt and plant short-growing rice varieties.

Water augmentation pumps where ground water exists have also been installed,

The country’s weather bureau PAGASA earlier said the El Niño is a phenomenon, happening every few years, so there is a need to come up with long-term preparations to be able to mitigate its effects, especially in the agricultural sector.

William said included in NIA’s long-term activities or measures to mitigate effects of El Niño is the construction of concrete line irrigation canals to reduce conveyance water loss and putting a cap to regulate water withdrawals for dams.

He said NIA has already distributed a total of 169 water pumps, 101 of which were already distributed in Kalinga, and 55 in Isabela.

Meanwhile, DA senior agriculturist Lito Mocati told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) they have already distributed 80 water pumps for the corn program.

Of the 80 units, 20 were distributed in Abra, 20 in Ifugao, 20 units in Kalinga, 10 in Apayao, and 10 in Mountain Province.

An additional 12 were distributed specifically under the high-value crops program.

“We have also distributed additional 12 units of water pumps under high value crops. Four were given to Abra and eight in Benguet,” he said.

He said NIA has started the procurement of 50 additional 50 water pumps, which will also be distributed to the affected farmers.