DAR-funded irrigation system Gonogon, Bontoc inaugurated

By Desiree Sokoken

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- A communal irrigation system in Barangay Gonogon here has been put in place.

On June 28, the completed facilities of the Gonogon Communal Irrigation System was inaugurated and turned over to beneficiary Agasil Irrigators’ Association.

With a total project cost of P5,872,060, the Gonogon CIS was funded and implemented under the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project Phase III of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The CIS is a joint project of the DAR, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), and the Bontoc LGU. It has a service area of 26 hectares, and has at least 300 family-beneficiaries.

Mayor Franklin Odsey, who was guest of honor during the turnover ceremony, called on the beneficiaries to use the project for the improvement of Bontoc’s rice production.

“In a community like ours where farming is relied on by the people as its source of livelihood, water is life. This irrigation project, therefore, is a means for the betterment of our livelihood. It’s also a tool in the protection and maintenance of our culture,” he said.

“We must use this to maintain the rice fields which we are known for, and to improve our rice production so that we may be able to balance our being consumers and producers,” he encouraged the beneficiaries. 

Present during the inauguration and turnover ceremony were members of the Agasil Irrigators’ Association led by its president Joyce Paclayan, NIA Provincial Coordinator Leonardo Lamangan, and Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer J. Aquino Gawigawen.

According to NIA, implementation of three other CIS projects in Bontoc is underway. These projects are located in Barangays Maligcong, Talubin, and Bayyo.