Water supply, rice yield enough amid El Niño – NIA
MANILA – The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Wednesday assured the public that the country’s water supply and rice yield are adequate and unaffected despite the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
In a radio interview, NIA Acting Administrator Eduardo Guillen said they have already made preparations with partner agencies in line with the whole-of-government approach directed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
“Nakapaghanda ho kami, pati DOLE, DSWD, DPWH, tumulong po sa amin. Sapat po, again sinasabi ko na po sa inyo, tataas pa po ang ating ani (We’re prepared. Even the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Public Works and Highways have assisted us. It’s sufficient, again, I’m saying that we would even have a yield increase),” he said.
In Nueva Ecija, Guillen said only 7,000 hectares out of the 50,000 vulnerable hectares have not been supplied with water from the Pantabangan Dam.
He said this is relatively low compared to the NIA’s service area of 90,000 hectares of irrigated land in the province.
“Nagpa-practice po kami ng Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) technique kaya mas marami kaming napatubigan (We are practicing AWD technique that’s why we have supplied to more areas),” Guillen said.
The AWD technique is one of the water-saving technologies used by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to aid rice farmers in reducing water consumption over their irrigated fields.
Guillen said areas that will not be covered by water irrigation supply are being informed in advance of the alternatives they may take while waiting for their turn.
“Yung mga nasa dulo ng ating irigasyon, inadvise-an natin na magtanim na ng high-value crops at ito naman pong mga sinabihan nating pwedeng magtanim ay siguradong mabibigyan natin sila ng patubig (Those who are at the end of our irrigation were advised to plant high-value crops, and those who have been given the go signal to plant rice are sure to receive irrigation),” he said in a separate radio interview.