The National Irrigation Administration said in a report that P3.126 billion was spent by the government last year to restore and rehabilitate irrigation facilities servicing a total of 96,209 hectares.

Administrator Marcelino Tugaoen Jr. said the restored irrigation facilities now service 55,000 hectares, while the rehabilitated systems cover another 41,209 hectares, the report said.

Total area rehabilitated or restored by the NIA represent a 100 percent accomplishment rate for the agency, Yap said, noting the government's unprecedented spending on rural infrastructure in 2007.

The more than P3-billion infrastructure outlay represents local funding for irrigation, the report also said.

Under the 2007 national budget, the total allocation for irrigation amounted to P9.419 billion, including foreign-assisted projects totaling P5.497 billion and locally-funded projects amounting to P1.903 billion. The balance of P2.019 billion came from other sources, the NIA report said.

NIA said that higher spending on the construction, repair and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities in key palay-producing areas is a crucial element of the government's goal to attain rice self-sufficiency by 2010, raise farmers' incomes, and make rice cheaper for low-income consumers.

In the report, Yap pointed out that higher spending on irrigation and other rural infrastructure is part of the five-point program of the Department of Agriculture to boost productivity and make farming and fishing much more profitable, especially for its small stakeholders.

Higher spending for irrigation is part of the Department of Agriculture five-point program also includes increased spending on postharvest facilities, and research and development and extension work; expanding access to rural credit; and opening more markets here and overseas for Philippine farm produce, the report said.

In the next three years, the DA is targeting the repair and rehabilitation of irrigation systems covering 300,000 hectares of land to achieve sufficiency by 2010.

The Philippines has 1.413 million hectares of irrigated lands, of which 695,774 hectares are serviced by national irrigation systems or NIS; another 543,262 hectares serviced by communal irrigation systems; and 174,200 hectares more that are serviced by privately-owned facilities, the NIA report added.*

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