By Billy Begas
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has appealed to the House of Representatives to restore the P91 billion capital outlay fund that was cut by the Department of Budget and Management in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP).
In a letter to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and House Committee on Appropriations chairperson Elizaldy Co, NIA acting Administrator Engr. Eduardo Guillen underscored the importance of irrigation for the country to achieve food self-sufficiency.
NIA requested a P132.4 billion budget for 2024, but the DBM only allocated P41.2 billion.
Guillen has recommended an annual allocation of P200 billion for irrigation to cover all agricultural lands. Currently, only 66% of the agricultural lands have irrigation systems.
“We firmly believe that our original budget ceiling request aligns with these factors and would allow us to fulfill our mission better and serve the interest of the Filipino people,” Guillen said in his letter.
Guillen noted that farmers in Nueva Ecija, which is being irrigated by the Pantabangan dam, can harvest rice 2.5 times per year with an average yield of 7 tons per hectare. The national average rice production is around 4 tons per hectare.
In areas without irrigation, where farmers rely on rainfall, farmers could only plant and harvest rice once a year.
“This is not ideal, considering the urgent need to address food security and uplift the livelihoods of our farmers. To expedite the progress and substantially contribute to accelerated and inclusive economic growth, I strongly recommended a dramatic increase in funding for irrigation infrastructure,” Guillen said.
Due to insufficient domestic production, the Philippines relies on rice imports to bridge the supply gap, which makes the country vulnerable to adverse events in major rice-exporting nations, unscrupulous rice traders, and smugglers.
