Rice and corn farmers of Lumban, Laguna can now save up on production cost and expect an increase in their net earnings following the installation of the solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS) in Barangay Wawa Ibayo.

On February 19, 2019, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol and DA CALABARZON Regional Executive Director Arnel De Mesa led the launching of the SPIS, which is expected to irrigate farmlands of at least one hundred members of the Wawa Ibayo Barangay Agriculture and Fisheries Council (BAFC).

Stressing the importance of water to food production, Secretary Piñol stated that the SPIS technology will revolutionize the Philippine agriculture.

“This is just the beginning,” Piñol said.

During the event, he declared that the rice areas surrounding Laguna de Bay will be prioritized for the implementation of the DA small scale irrigation program to maximize the readily available water source.

For many years, fuel used to operate shallow tube wells in Lumban has been eating up a huge chunk of the farmers’ budget.

“Sa isang cropping season, umaabot sa P20,000.00 ang ginagastos ng bawat magsasaka rito para lamang sa krudo (In one cropping season, each farmer here spends up to P20,000.00 for fuel),” Arnold Noble, a farmer in Lumban, Laguna, recounted.

“Ngayon hindi na kami bibili ng krudo (We will no longer buy fuel),” Noble stated with confidence. He also estimated that his income will be 80 percent higher with the help of the new irrigation system.

Funded under the Small Scale Irrigation of the DA Rice Program, the P5.78 million-worth Wawa Ibayo SPIS was the first SPIS project to be inaugurated in the CALABARZON Region.

As a BAFC member who was also hired to serve as the SPIS operator, Noble shared his vision, “Lalago ang aming samahan at magkakaroon kami ng pondo para makapagdagdag ng valve (Our group will grow and we will have fund for additional valves).”

Equipped with 112 solar panels, the Wawa Ibayo SPIS will draw water from the Pagsanjan-Lumban River. It will operate for six to eight hours a day and serve 25 to 50 hectares of production area, thereby enabling farmers to produce rice up to three times a year.

Wawa Ibayo BAFC President Melchor Ballesteros said, “Kami ay naniniwala na sa pamamagitan nito, bababa ang aming production cost at tataas ang aming kita (We believe that through this project, our production cost will decrease and our income will increase).”

He added that the BAFC will ensure proper operation and maintenance of the project. ### (Gumamela Celes Bejarin, DA-AFID)