Solar powered irrigation set in Antique

The government has constructed another unit of solar powered irrigation system (SPIS) in Antique as part of efforts to help ensure sufficient rice supply in the country.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the Department of Agriculture (DA) has turned over the P5.68-million SPIS to Brgy. Panlagangan in Sibalom in Antique, the province’s largest rice producing area.

The DA-funded SPIS has a total service area of 30 hectares rainfed rice land and has 100 solar panels that can generate up to 27 kilowatts of electricity which is enough to irrigate up to three hectares of rice areas daily.

It aims to increase farmers’ average yield from 3.7 metric tons (MT) to 4.5 MT per hectare.

The area has a total rice land of 6,675 hectares, in which 3,637 hectares are irrigated, 2,550 hectares rainfed, and 487 hectares are upland.

Last year, Sibalom produced 34,192 MT of palay from irrigated areas and 8,791 MT from rainfed farms.

The Sibalom Alliance of Rural Based Organization, which is composed of 72 registered farmers associations with more than 5,000 farmer members, will manage the operation and sustainability of the project.

Since DA started the SPIS in March 2017, it has provided funding for 169 units of SPIS nationwide.

The SPIS, one of DA’s flagship programs, aims to ensure sufficient rice supply in the coming years and could even result in surplus production in the country.