DA moves to increase water delivery to irrigation systems

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) and six of its attached agencies are working to optimize water delivery to irrigation systems to mitigate the impact of El Niño.

Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said the effort will involve the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) as well as irrigators’ associations (IAs) in El Niño-affected areas; the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (SWM); the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR); the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI); the National Food Authority (NFA) and the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI).

El Niño refers to the unusual warming of sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that is usually characterized by below-average rainfall, which leads to a dry spell.

The mitigation measures were taken up during a meeting of an interagency task force created by President Arroyo to work on intervention programs.

 “Although the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) foresees the El Niño attack to be a moderate one, the weather bureau has projected that it will last longer this time until July,” Fondevilla said.

He said the DA’s regional field units (RFUs) would help implement some of the measures especially those that need close supervision at the municipal level.

These include scheduling the release of irrigation diversion equipment for the Angat Maasim River Irrigation System (AMRIIS), and the linking of canals from the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS) to the Angat-Maasim Dam covering 6,000 hectares in Bulacan.

Fondevilla said the NIA would team up with IAs in optimizing water delivery and scheduling to national irrigation systems and rehabilitating existing irrigation canals through the drainage reuse system.

With the assistance of the Philippine Air Force, the BSWM is now carrying out seeding operations in critical drought areas, he added.

The BSWM and BFAR will also install 6,000 units of shallow tube wells and pumps or engine sets for fisheries, which will cover 18,000 hectares of El Niño-affected in 47 provinces, and establish open source wells for community food gardens producing high value commercial crops (HVCCs).

The DA’s field operations service and RFUs will help farmers shift to alternative crops to limit losses.

The DA is realigning P1.7 billion from its regular budget this year to bankroll the mitigation measures.