NIA-7 Manager, Engr. Rory Avance | Screen grabbed from PIA-7
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The farmers are considered the backbone of the country.
To help and support them in their productivity, the National Irrigation Administration in Central Visayas (NIA-7) said that they had been constantly providing farmers in the region with the support they needed.
Engineer Rory Avance, NIA-7 manager, said in Philippine Information Agency (PIA-7)’s news forum on Tuesday that there were already 65,000 farmers in Central Visayas covering Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, who were beneficiaries of NIA-7’s irrigation system.
Avance said that people should understand that the ‘basic’ input in terms of agricultural production was ‘water.’
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“Kung sa kaniadto, depende lang ta kung kanus-a mag uwan-uwan, but this time, since nakaprovide na kita og irrigation services, ang atong mga mag-uuma are assured sa ilang production via the provision of water,” Avance said.
(If before it will just depend when it will rain, but this time, since we have provided irrigation services, our farmers are assured of their production via the provision of water.)
Moreover, Avance said that the irrigation system would no longer be operated by NIA alone but with the help of irrigators’ associations (IA).
In return, NIA provides P500 per hectare as a subsidy for managing the irrigation systems through their Operation and Maintenance Subsidy (O&M Subsidy).
Avance said that the agency would also provide assistance to farmers through the Farmers Support Services Program (FSSP).
The FSSP was a pilot program of NIA, Avance said, that aimed to help farmers in their capital.
It was also a rice production agreement between NIA and IA to enhance the productivity and welfare of farmers, Avance said.
“Ang NIA naga-provide of P50,000 per hectare on which ang parte ani nga programa. Ang NIA na ang mo-procure sa seeds ug base of preference sa atong farmers,” Avance said.
(NIA will provide P50,000 per hectare on which is part of this program. NIA will procure the seeds and base of preference of our farmers.)
He said that they would provide high quality seeds for the farmers in time of their land preparation, then after that they would also provide them fertilizers.
He also said that there would be no requirements to avail the program, but it was the IAs that would recommend to NIA who could benefit from the FSSP.
The IA was a product of institutional activity of NIA, said Avance.
There are 20 IAs in Bohol and four in Negros Oriental.
Meanwhile, the number of participating farmers was 317 and the total land area covered was 354.54 hectares of which the total amount of subsidy the agency has given to the farmers reached P17.7 million.
As of October, NIA logged 40.08 hectares that were already harvested by the farmers. In 2025, NIA is proposing to cater up to 500 hectares for this program.
Meanwhile, through the Free Irrigation Service Act (Fisa) or RA 10969, the farmers who have eight hectares or less of land are exempted from paying the Irrigation Service Fee (ISF) for water sourced from NIA National and Communal Irrigation Systems.
The ISF ‘is charged by NIA from the beneficiaries in national systems as payment for the services rendered in the delivery of water’ and the ‘rates vary from system to system because power rates are location-specific.’
Irrigation projects
Moreover, he also shared the ongoing big-ticket projects and future irrigation projects.
Bohol has five ongoing projects: the Mabini-Cayacay SRIP, which is at 99.28 percent accomplishment; Calunasan Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (SRIP) with a 94.43 percent accomplishment rate; Bonotbonot SRIP at 73.67 percent; Hibale SRIP at 17.49 percent; and the Malinao Dam Improvement Project, which is at 25.69 percent accomplishment for Phase 1.
There is also 1 big-ticket project in the province of Negros Oriental, the Tanjay-Bais Irrigation Project, which is at 39.24 percent accomplishment.
Apart from that, Avance said that the agency had three future irrigation projects in the municipalities of San Miguel, Calape, and Guindulman in Bohol which are the Bohol Northeast Multipurpose Irrigation Project, Mandaug Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (SRIP), and Catungawan SRIP.
In Cebu, they also have one project for the Languyon River-Tuburan SRIP in Tuburan, Cebu; and another one in Negros Oriental which is the Kinalan SRIP. The total land area of Central Visayas is 1,520,510 hectares. Bohol has 411,730 hectares; Cebu has 534,200; Siquijor has 34,350; and Negros 540,230.
Avance said that the agency was eyeing to have around P1 billion budget for 2025 for their programs and projects. | with reports from Philippine Information Agency-Region 7