Ecija farmers owe P2.9B to NIA

CABANATUAN CITY—Unpaid irrigation service fees of farmers in Nueva Ecija province amounted to P2.9 billion as of June, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said on Tuesday.

But farmers are banking on a promise by President Duterte that his administration would subsidize irrigation services.

Farm owners and land reform program beneficiaries have not heeded reminders from collectors to pay their obligations, said Florentino David, manager of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (Upriis).

Upriis distributes irrigation water coming from Pantabangan Dam and other smaller dams in the province.

NIA collects fees which are the equivalent of 2.5 cavans (50 kilograms each) per hectare during the wet season and 3.5 cavans for the dry season.

At P17, which is the government support price per cavan, NIA expects to be paid P2,125 a hectare during the wet season and P2,975 a hectare during the dry season.

Pantabangan Dam, which started operating in the mid-1970s, has been providing irrigation to an average of 100,000 ha in Nueva Ecija and parts of Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac provinces.

“Among those who refuse to fulfill their obligations are [rich] farm owners and those who pawned their lands,” said one of the Upriis irrigation service fee collectors, who asked not to be identified in the report.

“They always tell me that they will settle their obligation later,” he said.

But farmers have been informed that the government intends to scrap the irrigation service fees, based on pronouncements by Mr. Duterte and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

According to the provincial agricultural office, 376 farmers have landholdings spanning 5 to 11 ha, 2,365 have 3 to less than 5 ha, 15,592 have 1 to less than 3 ha, and 27,011 have less than 1 ha.

Many of these farmers are no longer actual tillers as they have used their lands as collateral for loans.

Rice is the top agricultural product of Nueva Ecija (population: 2.15 million in 2015). Its high production makes it the leading rice-producing province in the country.

Its average production from 2002 to 2006, according to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), was 1,134,284 metric tons, with the second ranking producer, Isabela province, generating 1,006,422 MT.

In 2015, the total harvest in Nueva Ecija was almost 2 million MT when it increased areas used for hybrid rice cultivation to 63 ha, the provincial agricultural office said.

Of the 195,500 ha used for rice production, 147,000 are irrigated and the rest rain-fed or supported by irrigation pumps.