15,111 has. of palay farms spared from drought:NIA

By Dexter A. See 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- At least 15,111 hectares of palay farms in three rice-producing provinces of the Cordillera with an estimated production of 75,555 tons of palay worth P1.5 billion for the first cropping season are spared from drought now prevailing in the country, irrigation officials said here last week.

Engineer John Socalo, regional manager of the National Irrigation Administration in the Cordillera, said summer rains sustained water supply for the region’s three national irrigation systems that service production areas.

“The Cordillera is very lucky that it was able to experience summer rains which spared our irrigated areas from being affected by the expected prolonged drought. Our region will be feeling the effects of the drought during the second cropping season but we will cross the bridge when we get there because we will still assess the situation in the coming months,” Socalo said.

Of the existing irrigated production areas, Socalo said the Upper Chico River Irrigation System (UCRIS) irrigates around 10,823 hectares of rice farms in Kalinga, the West Abulug Irrigation System (WAIS) supplies irrigation water to around 3,418 hectares of rice farms in lower Apayao and some parts of Cagayan while the Hapid Irrigation System (HIS) irrigates 870 hectares of rice farms in Ifugao.

According to Socalo, the river flow of the Chico river that supplies water to UCRIS is more than 46.7 cubic meters per second while the water being supplied to the intake of the irrigation system is 25.8 cubic meters per second but the water requirement to irrigate the production areas is only 16.44 cubic meters per second.

On the other hand, the river flow of the Apayao river supplying water to the WAIS is 8.2 cubic meters per second while the water flowing to the irrigation intake is 3.1 cubic meters per second which is still above the 3 cubic meters per second requirement to irrigate the existing production areas in the province.

In the case of the HIS, Socalo said river flow was measured lately to be at 8.4 cubic meters per second while the water flowing to its intake was 2.2 cubic meters per second which is much higher than the 1.6 cubic meters per second requirement for the existing production areas.

Socalo said prevailing farm gate price of palay is around P19 per kilo but dried palay, especially in Kalinga is being bought at P22 to P23 per kilo which is good for the farmers this cropping season.

“Our Cordillera rice farmers are happy that they are able to significantly contribute in the rice self-sufficiency program of the Aquino administration, especially for this cropping season,” Socalo added.

He said NIA-Cordillera personnel will continue informing and educating rice farmers in rice-producing areas of the region so  they will efficiently manage their crops to sustain the region’s rice production for the coming cropping season.