The Department of Agriculture is fasttracking the rehabilitation and repair of national and communal irrigation systems in preparation for the rice planting season.

In a DA report this week, Secretary Domingo Panganiban said that the Department of Budget and Management has released P1.96 billion out of P3.23 billion budget for the irrigation program for 2005.

A total of 21,703 hectares have restored irrigated water, the report of the National Irrigation Administration said, and the program is aimed at reaching the 90,000 hectares target national rice production for 2006.

In Negros Occidental, the rehabilitation and repair of the Bago River Irrigation System already started middle of February.

BRIS, which is serving 12,700 hectares of farmlands in Bago, La Carlota, Bacolod, Murcia, Pulupandan, San Enrique and Valladolid, aims to expand its coverage to 13,277 hectares.

NIA data show that of the 3.126 million hectares ricelands nationwide, only 44.84 percent or 1.402 million hectares have functioning irrigation systems.

A total of 1.724 million hectares have either defective irrigation systems or rely primarily on rainwater for rice planting activities.

Panganiban said that under the current irrigation program, the DA expects to restore irrigated water to an estimated 618,730 hectares by 2008.

We will need about P788 million in 2009 to sustain irrigation rehabilitation objectives, he said, adding that the national government has allocated P25 billion to agriculture for its three-year irrigation rehabilitation program to achieve the country's goal of rice sufficiency by 2009.*NLG

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