NIA to spend P8 billion this year to restore irrigation facilities

MANILA, Philippines - The government has allocated P8 billion to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to restore facilities servicing 133,000 hectares and rehabilitate an additional 68,000 hectares nationwide.

NIA has spent a total of P7.27 billion to rehabilitate 103,568 hectares of communal and national irrigation systems and restored 122,909 hectares since 2006.

The agency is now completing at least 21 priority irrigation projects in strategically located sites around the country.

Of the 21 irrigation projects, seven are in Luzon, six in the Visayas, seven in Mindanao, and the rest are small reservoir projects nationwide.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, NIA administrator Carlos Salazar said the ongoing projects include the Banaoag Pump Irrigation project in Ilocos Sur; the Agno River Integrated Irrigation project in Pangasinan; the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power project and the Aulo Small Reservoir Irrigation project, both in Nueva Ecija.

The construction of irrigation and other rural infrastructure projects has already yielded positive results this year with palay production expanding by 5.1 percent or double its average growth a year ago.

NIA’s rehabilitation and restoration work has allowed farmers to plant an additional 69,000 hectares of farmland or 5.7 percent more than last year.

On the rehabilitation and restoration of existing irrigation systems, NIA is targeting an area covering a total of 368,000 hectares.

Salazar said besides rehabilitating and restoring irrigation systems, the agency is also implementing a three-step approach to increased cropping intensity, which means increasing irrigated areas of farmlands.