A newly installed solar-powered communal irrigation system in a remote barangay in Buenavista town, Quezon Province is expected to boost rice and corn production of small farmers, officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said.
On Tuesday, along with officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the DAR formally turned over the P10-million solar-powered irrigation project to the beneficiaries, a farmer-irrigators’ association.
In a statement, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Cornelio P. Villapando said the project is funded under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program-Irrigation Component in partnership with the NIA.
The newly installed communal irrigation system includes 108 solar panels that can irrigate over 35 hectares of rice and corn land that would benefit over 53 farmer-members, including agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) belonging to the Hagonghong Irrigators’ Association (HIA).
“The town of Buenavista can be considered an Agrarian Reform Community [ARC] because it is one of the towns with the largest distributed lands by the agency. This irrigation system is a great help to our farmer-beneficiaries whose main crops are rice and corn,” he said.
Acting NIA-Quezon Irrigation Management Office Division Manager Edwin C. Nazareno expressed his gratitude to DAR Quezon II for their support, while Municipal Vice Mayor Alvin Ray U. Rivera appealed to the farmer-beneficiaries to take care of the project.
HIA President Alvin Ray U. Rivera assured the two agencies that their association will be responsible for maintaining and taking care of the said irrigation system.