ORMOC CITY – The “oversight committee” on agriculture met with the National Irrigation Association this Friday, February 12, at the Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall here to hear what the agency has mapped out for the city’s rice farmers, in case the dreaded El Nin?o phenomenon hits.
Already, Ormoc and neighboring towns are feeling the pinch of hot days. Some parts of the country have already declared state of calamities because of dry spells, with cloud seeding already being done in Central Luzon.
It was also agreed that afternoon for the city to take a serious look at the reported vandalism of irrigation canals, “stealing” of water rations, and the dumping of trash into the canals and clogging it up.
The oversight committee on agriculture is composed of the various barangay chairmen of rice and vegetable producing villages and presidents of various farming associations, aside from representatives of the city’s agriculture office, the city mayor himself and councilor Sotero Pepito, chair of the committee on agriculture.
Also present during the meeting were city veterinarian Dr. Armando Apoderado, and Dr. Samuel Go, the city’s consultant on agriculture. Mayor Codilla came later, and urged those present to mull over his proposal to veer from traditional rice planting methods, if they want to minimize the effect of El Nin?o on their crops. (see separate story)
On the other hand, attending for the NIA were Engr. Santos D. Meracop, Jr, principal engineer of the Bao River Irrigation System, water resources facility Abednigo M. Codilla and Leah Borneo.
The NIA representatives divided their presentation into three. They also took the opportunity of explaining to the membership the reality that the operation of NIA’s irrigation system, will be turned over to the various irrigation associations in 2010.
Water rationing
Just like the ongoing power rationing, Abednigo Codilla who is also the “gatekeeper” of the Bao River Systems, said that in case of water rationing, they had a plan A and B.
Plan A, he said, will be implemented when they note a decrease in the water level at their dams. He said that as of press time, there was no need to worry because water levels remain normal. It has just been a week that rains were nil in the vicinity.
He also explained that while the Bao River Systems is situated in Masarayao, Kananga, Leyte, it services only one village in Kananga and serves the water requirements of 18 rice producing barangays in Ormoc City or some 1,600 hectares.
In case the water levels decrease, he said they planned to divide the rationing into two areas, or around 800 hectares per area. Both areas will be further divided into the two main canals that service it, with the one of bigger hectarage getting four days water each, and the smaller hectarage three days each.
Worst case scenario, he said, or when water level is critical, they will adopt plan B. It is a slight modification of Plan A. Instead of four days and three days, all get water on a four day rotation. Critical level is, he said, when the level of water reaches only 0.8 meters.
Codilla said that they have been adopting these methods through the years, and have proven effective.
Meanwhile, the complaints of the farmers were not so much on NIA’s service but of other farmers whom they called “oportunista”. Some, they said, have bore holes on the NIA canals so that they can get water directly from it. This puts farmers at the far end at a disadvantage.
For his part, Engr. Meracop explained that these are acts that violate PD 1067 or the Water Code, which penalizes “those who appropriate water without permit, the unauthorized obstruction of irrigation canals and malicious destruction of hydraulic works” with a fine of not less than P3,000.00 and imprisonment of not more than three years.
He noted, however, that because they are undermanned, implementation is hard.
NIA to fold up soon
Leah Borneo, also of NIA, said that as of present, they had five operations staff, five office personnel and one manager, or eleven people in all. In the coming years, their number will reduce because the positions of those who retire will no longer be filled up.
She explained that this was in compliance with the provisions of the Agricultural and Fishery Management Act (AFMA) that provides government irrigation systems be turned over to existing irrigators associations.
NIA, it was explained, will maintain its supervisory functions but will leave the operations to the associations. They will be given incentives like commissions on their collection of water fees, and P1,650 per year for every 3.5 kilometers of irrigation canal to pay for its maintenance like weeding and taking out obstructions.
Ormoc, it was learned, has eight irrigators associations. However, only the Ormoc South District Irrigators posted a high collection efficiency at 85.87. The lowest was Margen at 57.15 percent. Nonetheless, said Meracop, the Bao River System was still top in the region, meriting it an award of P10-million, which came in the form of project funds.
It was also announced during the meeting that Ormoc City is also the recipient of some P20-million in El Nin?o mitigation funds. Dr. Go, who announced the “good news” said that the national government has given preference to Ormoc City because of the success of its Rice Production Enhancement Program (RPEP) which has increased rice production in the region.
The funds will come in the form of a funding for a project for NIA. Just as Go finished his announcement, Engr. Meracop fished out a program of work for the construction of more line canals to the tune of around P10-million.
Another piece of good news that afternoon was a communication of former Agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor, now a congressman, to give farmers’ associations in the city one plastic sheet or a trapal each, to cover palay harvests at the farm level. By Lalaine M. Jimenea
NIA discusses steps to be taken in case El Nino hits Ormoc City
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NIA = National Irrigation *Administration*, not Association