IRRIGATION. Engineer John Molano, National Irrigation Administration-Pangasinan Irrigation Management Office Division Manager, during a media interview on Thursday (April 25,2024). NIA reported that farmlands of Pangasinan survived the dry cropping season despite the effects of the El Niño phenomenon. (Photo by Hilda Austria)
ROSALES, Pangasinan – The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) reported good yields in the irrigated farmlands of Pangasinan amid the El Niño phenomenon.
Engineer John Molano, NIA-Pangasinan Irrigation Management Office (PIMO) Division Manager, in an interview on Thursday, said they have exceeded their target for water irrigation during the dry cropping season this year from 41,515 hectares (has) to 46,024 has.
He said even the 18,000 vulnerable areas were able to harvest despite the challenge during the dry cropping season, which is from November to March.
"Nakarami ng ani ang mga farmers (the farmers were able to harvest more) with an average of 100 metric tons per hectare or a total of an estimated 6.6 million metric tons harvested during the dry season," he said.
Molano said they implemented constant monitoring and evaluation of progress of farming in the areas declared as vulnerable.
They also strengthened the implementation of the scheduled rotational water delivery and distribution, he said.
"Tamang program planning. Namigay din ng water pumps sa buong Pangasinan (It was through proper program planning. We also distributed water pumps in the whole province)," Molano said.
He said more than 643 water pumps were distributed, especially in vulnerable areas, so far this year.
He said they have also utilized around half of the PHP1 billion budget allotted for the province for this year under the solar water irrigation systems.
Meanwhile, Molano said the different government agencies will again convene for the preparation for the wet cropping season, which is from June to October.
"We will soon conduct the system management coordination meeting," he added. (PNA)
