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BY BOY RYAN ZABAL
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Thursday, May 18, 2017
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KALIBO, Aklan – Farmers urged the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to “rehabilitate, restore and expand” existing irrigation systems, as well as carry out the government’s free irrigation program.
Placard-bearing members of the Pagtililibyog It Mga Mangunguma Sa Aklan staged a picket in front of the NIA provincial office in Barangay Linabuan Sur, Banga on May 15.
They also urged the agency to provide better irrigation services for more corn and rice production and ensure a long-term rice sufficiency, said Kim-Sin Tugna, provincial coordinator of the Kadamay group.
“Since the onslaught of (super) typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2008, large portions of [damaged] irrigation canals in the barangays” have not been rehabilitated or restored, Tugna claimed.
Three months ago, the NIA approved the guidelines on free irrigation services and the non-collection of amortization and equity payments from farmers’ and irrigators’ associations.
The NIA will still have to collect back accounts, or unpaid irrigation service fees, pending the passage of the law.
Farmers across the country owed the agency some P13 billion in unpaid irrigation fees as of January this year.
Proposed free irrigation services aim to lower the production cost shouldered by farmers, and subsidize the expenses of irrigators’ associations and the operations of existing irrigation facilities and structures.
NIA administrator Ricardo Bisaya is also pushing for the modernization of irrigation services through quality dams and main canals for large and medium irrigation projects, and the fast-tracking of the repair of damaged irrigation systems. (With Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
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