Drought-hit farmers seek free irrigation in C. Luzon

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—More than 200 farmers in Central Luzon trooped to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) office in Quezon City on Thursday, seeking free irrigation to make up for the drought they have been suffering.

The drought, a result of El Niño or the warming of temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, either stopped farmers from planting or damaged crops leading to income losses, said  Joseph Canlas, chair of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL).

The farmers, who come from Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bataan and Pampanga provinces, protested the average irrigation service fee (ISF) of P4,500 per hectare a year, which is equivalent to five cavans of palay.

Pay even without supply

Farmers’ and irrigators’ associations are still required to pay irrigation fees even though their areas are not fully irrigated or do not get water supply, Canlas told the Inquirer by phone. “It is necessary now for government to give them free irrigation and condone unpaid ISF accounts,” he said.

The ISF is computed according to the number of cavans harvested by farmers that is multiplied with 50 kilograms per cavan and the prevailing government support price set by the National Food Authority.

Farmers who get water from reservoirs like the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija are charged a little higher, at fees equivalent to the price of 2.5 cavans on wet months and 3.5 cavans on dry months.

Florentino David, NIA Central Luzon director, said the agency had no power to remove irrigation tariffs because Presidential Decree No. 552, which was issued by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1974, tasked NIA with collecting the fees.

The decree empowers the NIA to “charge and collect from the beneficiaries of the water from all irrigation systems constructed by or under its administration … to cover the cost of operation, maintenance and insurance.”

In a statement, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas Chair Rafael Mariano said the government should provide free irrigation to ensure agricultural development, rice self-sufficiency, food security and farmers’ welfare.

Unpaid accounts

According to him, 80 percent of NIA’s collectibles consist of unpaid accounts.

“Based on the NIA’s partial accomplishment report, as of December 2015, it had finished only 1,905 hectares of new irrigation systems out of its annual target of 7,502 hectares and restored 8,609 hectares of irrigation systems out of its 24,541 hectares target,” Mariano said.

He described that accomplishment as “highly questionable and anomalous,” considering that the NIA’s annual budget had increased in the past two years. He was referring to the P2.4-billion budget in 2014 and P28.7-billion in 2015.

This year, the NIA budget totaled P32.7 billion.