Duterte says farmers should get water free

DAVAO CITY—As farms wilt from the dry spell, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte asserted the importance of providing free irrigation water to farmers.

The controversial mayor, who is being persuaded to run for President next year, found it outrageous that the salary of employees and operating expenses of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) were coming from the pockets of farmers through irrigation fees.

“Where in the world can you find a situation where it is the rice farmers who are subsidizing the salaries and operational funds of a government agency in charge of irrigation?” he said.

The NIA, a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC), is in charge of the construction and maintenance of all irrigation facilities in the Philippines.

Duterte, in a press statement, said a GOCC was supposed to support its operations from its own revenues, but it was unfortunate that the NIA would rely on fees from subsistence farmers.

Under the current irrigation scheme in the country, farmers who are members of irrigation associations that fail to pay irrigation fees will be cut off from irrigation, leaving their rice paddies dry.

But, ironically, farmers who pay their fees would also be affected if they belong to delinquent irrigation associations, Duterte said.

“How can we expect our rice farmers to produce more with this system?” he said.

In his “Listening Tours” around the country, Duterte said he was able to go around places which are suffering from the dry spell and that he saw the need for a “dramatic overhaul” in the agricultural system in the country to fully support not just the needs of farmers but also to achieve food security in the country.

“We should learn to manage our water resources just like what Israel and the US are doing so that our farmers will have sufficient supply of water all year round,” Duterte said.

“Water must be provided free to Filipino farmers because that is the only way we could produce more food for the Filipinos,” he added. Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao