NIA aims to develop 1.27-M hectares of irrigable land

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is hopeful it will be able to develop the remaining 1.27 million hectares of irrigable land by 2022.

Based on NIA's latest inventory, the country has an estimated irrigable area of 3.13 million hectares of agricultural lands but only 1.85 million hectares have been developed or roughly 59 percent of the total irrigable area.

"We still have 1.27 million hectares remaining to be developed," NIA Administrator Ricardo Visaya said.

This year, the agency has an allocation amounting to 138.37 billion. Of this amount, 125.65 billion is allotted for general administration and support to operations, while the remaining 112.72 billion is allocated for locally-funded and foreignassisted projects.

NIA has a proposed budget of 145.867 billion for 2018. This is an increase of 19.5 percent from the present allocation.

"We would like to triple the (allocation) for projects to fast track the construction of dams. We still have about 41 percent to develop and we want to fast track the development of these areas. If we triple the allocation, about 136 billion will be used for projects for 2018," Visaya said.

"If we can continuously increase our budget for projects by about 19 to 20 percent per year, hopefully we can do that (development of remaining irrigable lands) by 2022," he added.

While reaching NIA's goal is still a long shot, Visaya said they will "try" to complete the development of unirrigated areas by 2022 because "there is no harm in trying."

Visaya said there are many areas in Mindanao that still need irrigation systems, particularly in Caraga and Central Mindanao. There are also areas in Central Luzon that need efficient irrigation systems.

This year, NIA is set to develop 23,115 hectares and restore 13,507 hectares of agricultural lands.