It would take the government four decades to supply water to all irrigable lands in the Philippines, according to the chief of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
NIA Administrator Ricardo R. Visaya issued this statement after Surigao del Sur First District Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. inquired about the NIA’s projected timeline to irrigate all 3.128 million hectares of irrigable lands in the country.
“At this rate we are going at about 40,000 hectares per year, [it would take us] more than 30 years to 40 years,” Visaya told lawmakers during the agency’s budget hearing on August 2.
Visaya disclosed that the NIA is crafting an irrigation master plan that seeks to cover 85 percent of the total irrigable areas, or about 2.66 million hectares.
The attached agency of the Office of the President was able to irrigate a total of 1.887 million hectares as of last year, or 60.35 percent of the 3.128 million hectares of irrigable lands in the Philippines.
For this year, the NIA’s target is to irrigate 33,247 hectares of new areas and restore irrigation in 14,460 hectares.
However, the agency has only irrigated 2,193 hectares of new areas, or about 7 percent of its 2018 target, as of July 31. As for restored areas, it was only able to cover around 1,258 hectares, or 9 percent, of its full-year goal.
For next year the NIA is eyeing to irrigate an additional 36,700 hectares of land, which is smaller compared to its target area of 47,707 hectares for 2018. Of the total target next year, about 31,400 hectares are new areas, while 5,300 hectares are for restoration.
The NIA’s Department of Budget and Management-approved budget for next year is P37.609 billion, 10.85 percent lower than the P41.669-billion allocation it obtained this year.
Of its proposed funding for next year, the NIA is planning to spend P15.792 billion for its irrigation systems development program, which was 1 percent lower than its allocation of P15.997 billion this year.
The agency is targeting to spend P2.326 billion for its irrigation systems restoration program next year. The figure, however, is 25 percent lower than the P3.117 billion it is spending for the program this year.
However, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the NIA will not be able to cover all the 3.128 million hectares of irrigable land in the country. Piñol added that there are parts of the country that cannot be serviced by the facilities of the NIA.
“We are an archipelagic country [and] we have rice farms located in isolated areas. We cannot task the NIA to irrigate all the areas,” he said.
“Let’s go for unconventional irrigation systems, like solar-powered irrigation systems, which could cover secluded areas and even those downstream areas that the NIA cannot cover. The position of the DA is to work hand in hand with the NIA,” he added.
The government is keen on expanding irrigated farmlands in the country to prop up the production of water-loving crops, such as rice.