MANILA, Philippines — The National Irrigation Administration has opened the new P74-million pumping station of the Libmanan-Cabusao pump irrigation system (LCPIS) as part of the government’s effort to cover more agricultural areas nationwide.
NIA recently inaugurated the pumping station in Camarines Sur which has four units of brand new 250 horsepower diesel engines and pumps which will irrigate 2,195 hectares of farmlands.
This is expected to benefit 1,728 farmers in 10 barangays in Libmanan and two barangays in Cabusao in Camarines Sur.
The LCPIS was originally constructed in the early 1980s under the Integrated Area Development Program of the Philippine government with funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
The original pumping station had four units of electrically-driven engines and pumps. In 1998, the electric engines were replaced with diesel engines and only two remain operational today.
Camarines Sur has the largest potential irrigable area of 123,700 hectares among the six provinces in the Bicol region.
As of June, NIA had already irrigated a total service area of 77,043 hectares in the province attaining 62.28 percent of irrigation development.
NIA, as the lead government agency mandated to develop all possible sources of water for irrigation, continues to provide efficient, reliable, and sustainable irrigation service to farmers through the construction, rehabilitation, restoration, and maintenance of irrigation systems nationwide.