D.a. Chief urgeS teChNOLOgy Shift tO raiSe farmerS’ yieLD

THe use of modern farming technology, such as fertigation and solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS), could allow farmers to double their produce and earn more profits, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Agriculture Secretary emmanuel F. Piñol said the agency is set to commission a 10-hectare corn demonstration farm that uses fertigation and drip irrigation technology that uses SPIS in Dangcagan, Bukidnon, next month.

The DA spent P3.5 million in establishing the SPIS at its Upland Agriculture research Center in Dangcagan.

The demo farm would serve as a model farm on how modern technologies could increase corn farmers’ output from 4 metric tons to 8 mT and allow them to have two croppings in a year, Piñol added.

“The demonstration farm is part of the modernization program of the DA to increase farmers’ productivity through the use of advance agricultural technology,”he said in a post in his official Facebook page on Tuesday.

Piñol said the demonstration farm would apply fertigation technology or the process wherein“soil and fertilizer will be applied by mixing these with irrigation water in the reservoir.”

The establishment of SPIS nationwide is one of the DA’s flagship programs to modernize agriculture and improve farmers’ productivity.

Piñol said the DA would also establish demonstration farms using SPIS for sugarcane, cacao, coffee, coconut, bulb onion and other high-value crops.

At present, the SPIS are only applied in rice production in the country.

To date, about 169 units of SPIS have either been completed or under construction in the country, which could now cover at least 2,000 hectares of rice farms, according to Piñol.