Free irrigation policy awaiting executive order from Palace

THE National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is currently drafting policy guidelines in preparation for the free irrigation regime to start next year as ordered by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Engineer Romeo M. Lopez, NIA’s Operations Division Manager, said in an interview last week that NIA’s payment to irrigators associations ( IAs) through the irrigation management transfer model contract 1 which delegates to IAs the maintenance of canals will be retained but contract models will now be unified.

Mr. Lopez said that the agency is awaiting an executive order from the Office of the President which will detail the government’s intentions on free irrigation.

“When the order arrives, that will be it. We will adjust the policy based on what the president wants,” Mr. Lopez noted, adding that regional directors are undergoing workshops to prepare them for the shift.

Mr. Lopez also noted that NIA is consolidating recommendations from stakeholders and off icials deemed viable for the eff icient delivery of irrigation water to farmers after the fees are scrapped.

NIA’s Legal Services Department Manager, Genever M. Dionio, said that with the removal of Irrigation Service Fees (ISFs), farmers should strive to boost their production.

“The message the government is sending is that irrigation will be free but there is a shared responsibility on the part of the farmers… to improve their management,” said Mr. Dionio in an interview last week.

ISFs account for 6% of a farmer’s production cost per hectare.

The ISFs, which average P2 billion a year, help maintain irrigation facilities and fund NIA’s operations.

This year, NIA will source P30.48 billion from the General Appropriations Act, allocations reserved for construction of new irrigation systems and the restoration and rehabilitation of existing facilities.

About P2.3 billion, on top of the agency’s 2017 budget, has been allocated to cover the free irrigation scheme starting next year.

In addition, Mr. Piñol is proposing the amendment of the NIA charter to permanently abolish ISFs, in order to do away with the need to seek irrigation funds from Congress each year.

The NIA charter or Republic Act (RA) 3601, as amended by Presidential Decrees 552 and 1702, as well a RA 8435 or the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Law gives NIA the power and authority to collect ISF.

ISFs were abolished in 1998 as ordered by former President Joseph E. Estrada but were later reintroduced. —