BACOLOR, Pampanga ,Philippines – National Irrigation Authority (NIA) regional director Reynaldo Puno said he is backing a P60-million irrigation fund to restore farmlands buried by lahar in this town.
In a meeting with farmers at the new municipal hall here over the weekend, Puno said the irrigation fund will initially benefit 566 hectares in six barangays here.
“There should no longer be any objection to the project since it has been established that the lahar-affected areas no longer experience high percolation or seepage rate. The coverage of the irrigation project should even be widened for food production self sufficiency,” he said.
“Our lahar-buried farms were totally useless. But now, they have even become more fertile than before Mt. Pinatubo's eruption,” said farmer Rudy Granda, 64, who vowed to return as a full time farmer once the irrigation system has been constructed.
Mayor Jomar Hizon cited the growth of cogon and other wild bushes in lahar-buried farms.
“These wild plants grew and then decomposed on the surface of lahar lands, thus enriching the areas with natural compost. This has been happening for the past 16 years and now our lands have again become fertile,” he said.
Angelito Miguel, development manager of the Pampanga-Bataan Irrigation Management Office of NIA, said that the irrigation system would derive its water from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo through the Pasig-Potrero River and the Gugu creek which used to be channels of lahar debris.
Also during the meeting, municipal agricultural technologist Janette Wong presented a study indicating that many lahar areas have become agriculturally productive. She noted, however, that productivity is hampered by lack of irrigation, as the crops depend only on either rains or shallow well pumps.