Solar-powered irrigation

With the onset of the summer months, many of our farms are once again struggling to get enough water. A letter sent to me by Oscar Violago, chairman of San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders and Developers Group, Inc., is most timely. I can say that there is no man I know, other than Oscar, who has better knowledge of water management.

After reading one of my columns on rice farming, he furnished me a copy of a proposal that he sent to President Marcos. His idea is to build solar-powered irrigation systems utilizing shallow wells for at least one million hectares or more of rice lands. He says such an initiative would allow the production of 150 million metric tons of palay (unhusked rice) or 75 million cavans of rice, which would be equivalent to the 3.8 million metric tons of rice that the country imported last year.

Without water during the dry season, Violago says, “our farmers will remain hopeless and helpless. We will forever be importing rice [and] subsidizing the foreign farmers instead of our local farmers in the process. The only and best solution, therefore, is to make water available to our farmers throughout the year.”

To irrigate at least one million hectares throughout the year, Violago proposes for the Philippine government to seriously consider a proposal by Israel to build solar irrigation with shallow wells payable within 15 years “on a government to government basis to avoid corruption.”

According to Violago, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) had already approved the project three years ago, and Senator Cynthia Villar, who heads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, had likewise endorsed it. It only now needs the President’s approval.

Long delay

Violago writes: “I do not know the reason for the long delay when it [is] supposed to bring water to our farmers. I think the area [covered in the Israel-funded project] is 86,000 hectares, so this is just 10 percent of the one million hectares of what we need to be food self-sufficient.

“I also suggest that we solicit assistance from other developed countries like the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, USA, among others to give us the same or better offer than the Israelis, but still on a government to government basis to avoid corruption in building solar irrigation with shallow wells.”

Violago says that the Bureau of Soils and Water Management estimates there is around 3.5 million hectares of agricultural land with shallow wells in the country. “If we can irrigate 3.5 million hectares, wow, that would be heaven! Imagine we will not only be food self-sufficient, but also a big exporter of rice, corn, fruits, vegetables, etc.”

Economic basis

The businessman in Violago computed the economics of getting rain-fed lands to be more self-sufficient in water. The average amortization of three million hectares yearly, he says, would be P36 billion, a cost that is “nothing compared to our rice importation per year.”

Last year, Violago says, the country spent P80 billion for imported rice, “which will increase forever,” unlike the payment on loans to set up the solar system for shallow wells, which is only 15 years.

“At one million hectares, we will already be food self-sufficient, and the farmers will become rich. This will create a multiplier effect in our economy because they will buy more food, clothing, shelter, better education for their children, among others, making us a wealthy nation.

“At two million hectares and bigger, we will become exporters of rice, corn, vegetables, etc. making us very rich. Our animal industry will also be fully fed by our corn production, allowing us to have lower prices for our meat, cattle, chicken, eggs, etc.

“So, instead of becoming an importer, we become a big exporter.

“If we can afford to borrow hundreds of billions of pesos for our subways, airports, and other large infrastructure projects, why can we not do the same for our farmers? If we can spend P80 billion for 4Ps [Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program] every year, why can we not spend P12 billion to P36 billion for our farmers and make our country rich and wealthy?”

Violago underscores that, “We can put the best science in rice, give hybrid rice, certified seeds, fertilizers, farm to market roads, etc., among others, but without water during the dry season, our farmers are helpless. Thus, the best and only solution is to bring water to our farmers the whole year round.”

Wawa project

Violago made it to the news last year when his company, Olympia Violago Water and Power Inc., teamed up with Ahunan Power Inc., a subsidiary of billionaire Enrique Razon’s Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., to develop a 500-megawatt Wawa pumped storage hydropower project.

At an estimated project cost of $1 billion, the project is expected to provide cheap and reliable peaking power, and will significantly contribute to the country’s goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Project construction is proposed to start this year wherein two water reservoirs will be built at different elevations, capable of generating electricity by pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir during off-peak hours to store underutilized energy, then releasing from the upper reservoir to the lower reservoir to generate electricity during high peak hours.

The project had been marked as an “unsolicited tender” for a prospective power supply agreement with Manila Electric Company, which regularly suffers from power supply shortages during the dry months when consumer demand for electricity peaks.

The proposed power plant will be located within the Wawa River basin and the Montalban River sub-basin, located in the municipalities of San Mateo and Rodriguez in Antipolo, Rizal.

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