Nueva Ecija braces for El Niño
SCIENCE CITY OF MUNOZ, Nueva Ecija: The provincial government of Nueva Ecija is hopeful that local farmers will survive the wet season this year ahead of the possible ill effects of El Niño.
It is preparing to mitigate the possible impact of El Niño on 105,000 local farmers, who have been credited for putting the province on top in rice output in Region 3 (Central Luzon) with an average output of 7.57 metric tons per hectare.
For this notable production record, Bernardo Valdez, Nueva Ecija provincial agriculturist, this week cited collaborative efforts between local and national government agencies, such as the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (Upriis).
Valdez said the milestone was reported during the recently concluded Philippine Rice Industry Workshop held in Cauayan City, Isabela province, from June 26-28, 2023, led by Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Leo Sebastian.
The Upriis under the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) manages the Pantabangan dam and four other multipurpose small reservoir irrigation projects (SRIPs) in Nueva Ecija.
These Upriis water projects are Marikit dam in Pantabangan town, Balbalungao dam in Lupao town, Upper Tabuating dam in General Tinio town and Aulo dam in Palayan City.
Rosalinda Bote, newly promoted regional manager and the department manager of the Upriis, on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in an interview with The Manila Times, said about 30 percent of the dam water had been released to farmers on June 16, 2023, irrigating the Upriis coverage of 147,664.07 hectares tilled by 102,340 farmers in the province.
The Upriis also installed solar-powered irrigation pumps at tail-end areas in the towns of Aliaga, Licab, Natividad, Quezon and Zaragoza, thus freeing farmers from the expensive cost of gasoline and diesel.
The solar-pump project, through water reuse, helps alleviate insufficiency of water in areas that are not served by the dams.
The El Niño is expected to last until 2024.
Also on Thursday, the water level of Pantabangan dam in Nueva Ecija was reported to have fallen below 178.38 meters.
On the same day, the Upriis, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Canadian private partner Ostrom Climate Solutions Inc. And three irrigators’ associations (IAs) joined hands to implement water savings through the nature-based alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology against a possible dry spell that El Niño may cause.
The PhilRice and the Upriis have been partners of Ostrom in aiming for better climate-change adaptation and mitigation through the AWD technology, which envisions to promote a water-saving methodology that will reduce methane emissions from rice farming.
Also on Thursday, Ostrom, a private company, signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the three IAs on Water Rights Assessment implementing the technology held at Pagasa gym in this city.
About 18,000 hectares covered by Division 5 of the Upriis will be used as pilot area for the technology, engineer Rogelio Macatula, acting division-5 manager, said.
Whatever water saved by the division, the implementer of the pilot test, can be allocated to other areas, augmenting the water coming from Pantabangan dam.
During the wet season, local dams, such as those in Peñaranda town and San Jose, help maximize the use of rain water.
During the ceremony, Bote distributed certificates to the irrigators’ 39 associations condoning their unpaid Upriis irrigation service fees (ISFs).
Republic Act 10969 or the “Free Irrigation Service Act” exempts farmers with landholdings of eight hectares and below from paying service fees.
Bote proceeded to the Canadian firm’s office at the PhilRice compound with another signing event together with Ostrom Climate Solutions president and CEO Phil Cull; Jane Boles, Ostrom’s director for International Land Use; Edmund Leo Rico, Ostrom’s country lead; Ostrom’s project leader Evangeline Sibayan; Viviana de la Cruz, Upriis chief of operations of the engineering division; PhilRice representat ive Eduardo Quilang; and Macatula and met with another 10 irrigators’ associations from Guimba town to sign the MoA as part of the Climate Smart Rice Project.
Ostrom Climate Solutions is intending to disseminate information on the AWD technology to the entire service area of the Upriis in four years and may even expand to other national irrigation systems.