Baguio City (CNN Philippines) — To mitigate potential dry spell, the National Irrigation Administration–Cordillera Administrative Region (NIA-CAR) has increased its annual budget this year to P639 million from last year’s allocation of P532 million.
NIA-CAR Regional Manager John Socalo said the move was to equip farmers in the region with necessary measures to keep damage minimal through early preparation for the foreseen drought.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) already warned the possibility of a dry spell brought by the El Niño phenomenon in the entire country especially at the start of the dry season this April.
In the Cordillera, the irrigation agency earmarked P344.2 million for repair and expansion of national and communal irrigation systems, while P295.3 million was allocated for other projects such as water pumps, feasibility studies, and small reservoir projects.
NIA-CAR also advised farmers to plant before the end of January to obtain optimum productivity since the rice plants have enough irrigation during its vegetative state.
Currently, over 15,000 farmers benefit from the three national irrigation systems, watering about 23,000 hectares in Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao, and some parts of Quezon in Isabela.
Furthermore, over 41,000 hectares of farms are irrigated by 1,368 communal irrigation systems, benefiting over 75,000 farmers across the region.
