Skip to main content

Water shortage affects Ilocos farmers’ productivity


Dried up. Hectares of farmland and fish farms in Vintar and Batac are drying up, causing millions of damages for farming and fishing communities in this northern part of Luzon. (Lei Adriano)

Staff reporter

Vintar, Ilocos Norte—Ilocano farmers in this town raised the alarm as they may no longer hit production target this year as prolonged drought continue to pester vast tracks of agricultural lands here.

Vintar is the province’s top rice producer.

Over the years, officers and members of Zanjera Taguipuro, an organized rural farmers’ organization here have observed the lack of water supply to sustain the growth of their plants while rivers and underground water sources have already reached critical level.

At Brgy. Salsamagui, withering plants and dried up farm lots are creating discomfort for farmers.

Compared to previous years of the same period this year, Manny Agbayani said they could no longer plant for a third cropping due to lack of water coming from the irrigation canal.

Awan maaramidmi ta awan metten ti danum nga agturong kadagiti pagtatalonanmi [We are at a loss for we can no longer plant for third cropping due to lack of water flowing to our farmlands], said Mr. Agbayani as he met with his association to discuss how to remedy this problem.

Ita, awan mabalinmi no di ti aguray ti kaasi ti tudo tapno makapagmulakami manen [For now, we just have to wait for the coming of rain so we can start planting again],” stated Artemio dela Cruz, president of the Bagbag Irrigators Association.

Aside from the dried up farm lots and rivers reaching critical level, farmers have complained about mismanaged government projects such as a multi-million irrigation project with leaks.

Farmers said they are dismayed by this project as it only worsened their problem affecting about 1,500 farmers tilling about 500 hectares of agricultural lands in the adjacent municipalities of Vintar, Bacarra and Pasuquin town.

In a separate interview, Engr. Danilo Gomez of National Irrigation Administration said work is now on-going to repair the leaks. He also clarified that the established irrigation project could not function well as the water flow is only at 200 liters per second instead of an average capacity of 2,500 liters per second.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.