NIA enters ‘Golden Age,’ all 17 regional offices now financially viable

MANILA, Philippines - The National Irrigation Administration – the government’s frontline agency in charge of the Aquino administration’s flagship Rice Self Sufficiency Program (RSSP) by 2014 – has entered the ‘Golden Age,’ both historically and literally.

This after the agency – which turned 50 yesterday – finally achieved corporate financial viability, the first time it has happened in a half-century.

NIA administrator Antonio Nangel said NIA has come a long way from an agency saddled with a myriad of problems – such as extremely low collection of irrigation service fees (ISFs) and slow release of funds for construction of projects over the past few decades, and with only three viable regional offices in 1983 – into one which has navigated and demonstrated its capability to meet the expanding needs of national development and the high standards of modern irrigation science.

Nangel said at the end of 2012, NIA has generated P3.7 billion in total revenues compared to expenditures of P2.4 billion, giving it a robust net income of P1.3 billion for the entire year.

To top it off, all 17 regional offices of the NIA also attained financial viability.

“On its 50th year, the NIA central office and all our various regional offices are now viable. This is phenomenal. Indeed, this is now the dawning of the golden age for NIA,” said Nangel.

Nangel said NIA is focused on its mandate of irrigation development, considered the key to increased crop output along with  improved quality of rice seeds, post-harvest facilities, marketing and credit support and farm mechanization.

He noted that just last year, the government approved three irrigation projects worth P19.7 million namely Phase 2 of the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, Phase 2 of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Irrigation Project in Iloilo and the Umayam River Irrigation Project in Agusan del Sur.

Rebecca Malazarte, manager of the financial management department, said the central office posted a net income of P451 million, roughly 34 percent of the total net income.      

Among regional offices, Region 9 posted the highest increment in net income with 95 percent while in terms of ISF, Region 7 posted the highest.

In terms of monetary value, the Magat River Integrated Irrigation Systems (Mariis) and Upper Pampanga River Integrated Systems (Upriis), operators of the Magat and the Pantabangan Dams, respectively posted the highest incomes followed by Regions 12, 10 and 7.

Mariis posted a net income of P252.5 million while Upriis P238 million. Upriis is under the stewardship of engineer Josephine Salazar, who made history as the first-ever lady operations manager of the said system.

Others who posted net incomes were Region  12 (P79 million), Region 10 (P46 million), Region 7 (P44.2 million), Region 9 (P42.45 million), Region 13 (P24.4 million), Region 8 (P21.2 million), Region 11 (P20.4 million), Region 6 (P16.2 million), Region 5 (P14.3 million), Region 3 (P14 million), Region 4-A (P11.8 million), Region 1 (P10.9 million), Cordillera Administrative Region (P9 million), Region 2 (P8.1  million) and Region 4-B (P6.9 million).

Roberto Suguitan, NIA deputy administrator for engineering and operations, said the attainment of corporate viability is not only a tribute to the priorities given irrigation by President Aquino, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and administrator Nangel, but also the cooperation of the various stakeholders at NIA from the regional, operations and project managers to irrigators’ associations and farmers themselves.

“It’s a concerted effort. You can’t just attribute it to one factor. But we have to give due credit to President Aquino for spearheading the effort. He made it all happen,” Suguitan said.    

NIA officials said another huge contributory factor in the agency’s ascent to corporate viability was the hands-on management style of Alcala and Nangel who both barnstormed the various regional and provincial offices for dialogues and democratic consultations to know their needs and to make sure projects are being implemented properly and on time.

Nangel said the field visitations are necessary to get a grasp of the situation on the ground and to apply practical solutions to farmers’ problems and concerns. “We need to feel the public pulse, particularly the farmers who are our indispensable partners in this task of ensuring rice self-sufficiency by 2014,” he said.

Nangel said they are expanding the agency’s service areas with 150,000 hectares of new irrigation areas by the end of this year. To achieve this, NIA prioritized short-gestation projects, fast-tracked irrigated area roll-out and promoted crop yield-enhancing farming system. It also adopted water saving irrigation methods, including controlled irrigation practices.

Based on NIA records, the country has 10.3 million hectares of agricultural lands of which 3.1 million hectares are irrigable, with three percent devoted to rice and corn. Irrigated land areas have increased to 1.73 million hectares in 2012 from 1.48 million hectares in December 2010.

The DA aims to produce 20.4 million metric tons of palay for 2013 after producing 18.03 million MT in 2012.

The DA and NIA have both adopted interventions to jump-start the RSSP. In 2011, the NIA, for one unveiled its own five-year irrigation roadmap to support the government’s Rice Self Sufficiency Roadmap (RSSR) program, anchored principally on the restoration and rehabilitation of 525,017 hectares of non-functional irrigation systems all over the country by 2016.

The roadmap prioritized non-functional irrigation systems, classified as NIS and communal irrigation systems (CIS). NIS involves systems with serviceable areas of 1,000 hectares and above, among which are Upriis, Mariis and the Angat-Maasim Irrigation System which manages the Angat Dam. CIS refers to smaller systems that irrigate less than 1,000 hectares.

Nangel said of the NIA’s total budget of P92.7 billion up to 2016, 68 percent was allocated for the first three years in which the agency  targeted 2.8 million metric tons of the total incremental palay production from new and restored serviceable areas. This represents 36 percent of the 4.88 million metric tons of the total targeted incremental production.

He said that for the first three years, NIA expects to generate 166,671 hectares of new serviceable areas, restore 102,612 hectares of inactive serviceable areas and rehabilitate 181,787 hectares of active serviceable areas.

NIA is spending an average of P250,000 per  hectare for area generation, some P120,000 per hectare for area restoration and P90,000 per hectare for area rehab.

Aside from focusing on increasing the serviceable area, irrigated area and cropping intensity, the NIA also embarked on promotion of rice-intensifying cropping pattern to increase palay output.

Regarding NIA priority projects up to 2016 in support of the DA’s RSSR, the agency spent P12.7 billion for agency projects in 2011, P30 billion in 2012 and P20 billion this 2013. It will spend P15 billion in 2014, P10 billion in 2015 and P5 billion by 2016.

This will be utilized to generate 286,262 hectares, restore 166,130 hectares and rehabilitate 358,887 hectares by 2016.

For the five-year period, the targeted harvested area would be 16,917,211 hectares broken down into 8,058,210 for the wet season; 7,687,630 has. for the dry season and 1,171,371 has. for the third crop.  

The agency is not only exerting efforts at irrigation but also tree-planting and reforestation activities. Last year alone, some 146,522 various seedlings such as narra and mahogany were planted in just one day in low-lying areas, canal enbankments and service roads.

“We recognize the importance of tree planting as a practical means to preserve critical watershed areas for efficient water service. This is also in support of the call to implement programs that would help mitigate the effects of climate change,” Nangel said.

NIA was created by virtue of Republic Act 3601 which was signed into law on June 22,1963 by then-President Diosdado Macapagal. Its forerunner was the irrigation division of the defunct Bureau of Public Works.