Quezon City – NIA Acting Administrator Engr. Eddie G. Guillen, together with Deputy Administrator for Engineering and Operations Sector Engr. C’zar M. Sulaik, attended the Meeting on Mitigating the Effects El Niño Phenomenon at the Office of Civil Defense New Admin Building, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo.
Also present in the meeting were Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Chairperson Carlito Galvez Jr. presided over the meeting.
It is attended by Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Maria Susana Ople, Civil Defense Administrator and NDRRMC Executive Director Usec Ariel F Nepomuceno, and other members of NDRRMC.
According to NIA report, for Dry Cropping Season which commenced in November 2022, a total of 1,250,078.82 hectares have been irrigated, exceeding the programmed area of 1,212,888.39 hectares by 3.07%.
Out of the irrigated area, 1,240,235.95 hectares have already been planted and successfully harvested 757,163.97 hectares. There are 9,842.87 hectares remaining under land soaking/preparation. However, 315.59 hectares could not proceed to the planting stage due to damaged irrigation facilities caused by several typhoons that occurred last year.
NIA Acting Administrator Engr. Eddie G. Guillen informed NDRRMC and OCD that as NIA moves into the Wet Season, which started this April 2023 in some areas of the Mindanao Regions, currently, 24,672.78 hectares are under land soaking and preparation stage. NIA is optimistic that it will surpass previous achievements in irrigating more hectares of land in the upcoming season.
Projected Programmed Area for CY 2024 Dry Crop is 1,212,417.13 for both National Irrigation Systems (NISs) and Communal Irrigation Systems (CISs). Water delivery will have an early start of August 25, 2023 and a later start of April 14, 2024.
Engr. Eddie G. Guillen said, NIA continues to provide the Filipino farmers with efficient water distribution to improve agricultural productivity and to contribute to food security in the country.
“We will continue to work towards developing efficient and sustainable irrigation systems for farmers,” Guillen added.
