NIA to accept cash for irrigation fees, not rice

By Larry Lopez

TABUK CITY, Kalinga  –- The National Irrigation Administration provincial office told farmers in the province that payments for irrigation fees should now only be in cash starting this cropping.

Raymond Apil, Irrigation Officer for Kalinga, Ifugao and Mountain Province said this  is pursuant to NIA central office memorandum stating that NIA would no longer accept “in-kind” payments for irrigation fees except cash.

As a practice, farmers here and other areas in Isabela province being served by the Kalinga irrigation system used to pay their irrigation fees from their palay produce.

Under the arrangement, NIA values the “palay-payment” from farmers at P17/kg or whatever is the prevailing government price on palay offered by the National Food Authority.

NIA collects irrigation fees twice a year - three cavans for dry cropping and two cavans  for wet cropping. When computed to cash, farmers pay irrigation fees of P2,550/hectare for dry and P1,700 during wet cropping.

According to Apil, the cash payment is more convenient to farmers who can always go to their office anytime to pay instead of waiting for NIA collectors to collect their palay payments every end of the cropping season.

Apil called on farmers here to pay promptly their fees for this will go back to them through efficient irrigation service.