NORTH COTABATO, Philippines --- Muslim and Christian peasants in Pisan District in Kabacan town now look forward to an increase in local rice production with the restoration of water supply to their paddies from a newly-rehabilitated barangay irrigation system.
Arnel Sumawang, president of the Pisan Chrislam Communal Irrigation Association (PCIA), told The Star Monday they are thankful to the Department of Agriculture and the North Cotabato provincial government for the project.
Sumawang said more than 500 Muslim and Christian farmers stand to benefit from the rehabilitation of the irrigation facility.
The project was a joint initiative of the Department of Agriculture in Region 12, under the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), and the office of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza.
The DA-MRDP spent P8.4 million for the rehabilitation of the irrigation facility, which diverts, via a calibrated artery, the downstream flow of a river into ditches straddling through the rice farms in Barangay Pisan.
Mendoza’s office augmented the funds the DA-MRDP earmarked for the project with a 10-percent counterpart.
Mendoza and representatives from the agriculture department turned over the project to Pisan barangay folks over the weekend, in the presence of Kabacan Vice-Mayor Myra Bade.
Mendoza called on peasant communities in Barangay Pisan to help maintain the facility.
The rehabilitation of the Pisan irrigation facility was just one of the dozens of DA-MRDP’s projects in North Cotabato.
A total of P98.33 million worth of DA-MRDP projects had been implemented in different areas in North Cotabato in recent months, records obtained by The Star indicated.
Amalia Datukan, DA’s regional director for Region 12, said the North Cotabato provincial government has been actively supporting the implementation of the MRDP projects in the province.