Irrigation project boosts production in Laharlandia

The government's food security program for Central Luzon got a big push from the Estrada administration's Pampanga Delta Irrigation Dam project, a major irrigation project that will irrigate some 10,000 hectares of land in the so-called Laharlandia. President Estrada, who inspected the Pampanga Delta Irrigation Dam last Saturday, told residents in the lahar-ravaged areas of Central Luzon that his administration will closely monitor and ensure the completion of other priority projects in the area.

The Pampanga Delta Irrigation Dam, the President said, is the first of its kind in Asia that employs a shell-type movable gate structure. It is expected to benefit at least 7,000 farmers.

Mr. Estrada said the project, which will bring year-round irrigation water to some 10,000 hectares, is crucial to his administration's food security program.

Secretary Edgardo Angara of the Department of Agriculture, for his part, said that the P3.4 billion Japanese-assisted project is part of the DA's Agrikulturang Makamasa program that intends to boost agricultural production in Central Luzon and also reduce poverty incidence level of Pampanga residents.

The project is targeted to be fully completed in 2002, but some of its components will yield beneficial results to local farmers earlier than expected, Angara said.

One such component is the construction of new pumping stations to serve the western part of the project's service area. This will irrigate 2,943 hectares in some Pampanga towns, according to Administrator Manuel Arevalo of the National Irrigation Administration.

Another component is the immediate improvement of existing pumping stations and accelerated repair and rehabilitation of broken down existing irrigation canals to provide early distribution of water.

But the major component is the construction of a diversion dam with provision of desalting facilities in preparation for tons of lahar still expected to flow from higher grounds around Mt. Pinatubo.

Angara said the dam now 56 percent finished and capable of providing enough irrigation water to 10,270 hectares of farmland in six Pampanga municipalities.

To benefit from the project's irrigation water are 2,751 hectares of farmland in Arayat; 2,060 hectares in Sta. Ana; 2,020 hectares in Mexico; 1.353 hectares in San Luis; 1,040 hectares in San Simon, and 1,333 hectare sin Candaba.

Arevalo said the project was originally conceived to irrigate an area of 12,000 hectares. However, the area was reduced due to change in land use of prime agricultural lands and the adverse effect of lahar brought by Mt. Pinatubo's eruption in 1991. The newly established area is 10,270 hectares based on the results of recent survey.

At the start of this year, actual generated area of the project has already reached 4,704 hectares, the NIA chief said. He said work has been so intense that actual physical accomplishment this year had reached 139 percent, way above the projected 100 percent target performance level for 2000.

The country's palay production in the first half of year 2000 is expected to reach 5.4 million metric tons or 2.4 percent higher compared to first semester of 1999, Angara said.

Citing reports forecast from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Angara said palay production may hit 5.4 million metric tons for the January to June 2000 period from 5.27 million registered in the period of 1999.

He said the "respectable" improvement in palay yield would come between April and June due to the movement of harvest from latter part of the first quarter.