Irrigation deemed vital in boosting farm yield

MABINI, Bohol, Philippines — Establishing irrigation system is key to increasing the income of farmers who harvest some 40 to 60 cavans of palay per season.

This was the message of Representative Arthur Yap during the groundbreaking of the Mabini-Cayacay  Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (SRIP) in Barangay Abaca of this town.

Mayor Jun Jayoma, in his short remarks, posed the question, “Why the farmers remain poor?”

He then urged barangay officials and irrigators association (IA) to rally behind the project as he expressed thanks to the project proponent, Yap, and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) led by regional director Engr. Modesto Membreve.

The officials, along with some barangay folk and IAs, laid down the time capsule at the site where the dam is to be built.

Membreve said that the project was stalled in 2011 due to no budget for it to start and bidded out until Yap came into the picture and helped the procurement in the national budget.

The project is dubbed as “zoned earthfill.” According to the plan, the reservoir will be 32 meters high, 210 meters long, has a 10-meter crest with an elevation of 53 meters.

It also has a “reservoir live storage” of 3.09 million cubic meters (mcm) of water and .73 mcm during “dead storage” in a catchment area of 9.5 square kilometers. Its water sources are the Baujaman and Cawasan creeks.

Officials said the project costs some P725 million, including the reservoir to be finished in 2020. When completed, it will water some 530 hectares of rice farms benefiting some 320 farmers in Barangays Abaca, San Roque, Aguipo, and Cabidian.

The project will be also used for fish culture, flood control aside from irrigation, the NIA said. (FREEMAN)