The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Thursday attributed the 3 percent growth in rice production during the first half of the year to the collaborative efforts of government agencies. NIA chief Eduardo Guillen said the right assistance given to the farmers is also the main factor in achieving the increase. ‘Well, the first thing is that we are starting to deliver the right assistance to our farmers at the right time. This is the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. The NIA is now working closely with the Department of Agriculture (DA), so that we can deliver farm input assistance, including farm machinery, at the right time,’ he said at the Laging Handa briefing. ‘We hope that in the next cropping season, more people will benefit from the produce of our farmers, with the right input and receive it at the right time,’ he added. Guillen also cited the convergence efforts initiated by the President between NIA, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and DA. ‘We asked the DA, because the NIA has identified areas that we can irrigate. So we said to them, give us a high-yielding variety, (hybrid crops), so that instead of, for example, our farmers’ yield of only four tons, it will double, it will become eight tons,’ he said. El Niño He noted that new technologies and systems in place would help address the effects of El Niño. ‘And we have a new technology or system here at NIA that is being implemented now, what we call the alternate wetting and drying system where we can save around 30 percent on our irrigation and the yield of our farmers is even better. Just the proper cooperation of the national government agencies and of course, all our stakeholders so that even if we call something El Niño, we can still address it regardless of the areas that are not irrigated,’ he said. ‘Just because there is less water, it doesn’t mean they cannot plant. We have also identified those varieties that we can plant there like corn, we have high-value crops that we can plant,’ he added. He said the warm weather brought by El Niño would be beneficial to rice crops. ‘It’s sunnier when it’s El Niño, which means that the rice likes it more, the sunnier, the higher your yield will be, as long as irrigation is sufficient. The target areas we identified with the DA for farm clustering, we can really irrigate them,’ Guillen said. Increase rice production He said the government is on the right course as various national government agencies are ready to provide better services to the farmers. ‘Again, just bringing farm inputs and farm machinery to the right groups of farmers is a good deal, because we can ensure that our high-yielding varieties will go to irrigated ones. And when the rainy season comes, what we plant will be more inbred. So we will still maximize our production,’ Guillen added. As for a long-term solution, he said there is a need to increase the irrigated lands, more irrigation facilities. ‘Because if we are talking about food security, the number one support for food security is irrigation facilities. Let’s increase our high dams because that’s what is needed there. When you have high dams, you have food security, you have power, you have aquaculture, you have flood control,’ he said. ‘So that’s what our President is looking at, that’s why he’s forming this Department of Water. He wants an integrated water resource development, so that our water is not wasted,’ Guillen said. The NIA head said they are also looking to change the cropping calendar to increase harvest. ‘The NIA is talking with the DA, we’re just going to change our cropping calendar. The DA said during the dry season, the harvest should really be high. But it’s the other way around, during the wet season, they say we get 11 million metric tons, when it’s dry, I think it’s only seven or nine million metric tons. We want to reverse that or to add more to what we have,’ he said. “NIA is irrigating 1.3 million hectares. Imagine if our 1.3 million hectares were all high-yielding varieties that we planted during the dry season, we would have big rice output. If we can maintain our yield in the wet season, even if we don’t import anymore, that will be enough,’ Guillen added
Source: Philippines News Agency
