Wednesday, October 17, 2007 DA to undertake rehab of irrigation systems
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will be investing about P500 million for the repair of farm facilities to increase grain production in the country.
DA 7 Director Eduardo Lecciones Jr. said many farms in the country have become idle because of damaged irrigation systems and farm equipment.
He said the program will include the repair and rehabilitation of irrigation systems in agricultural areas in Cebu Province.
The project would increase production of rice by 20 percent, Lecciones said.
He said the DA also plans to eliminate post-harvest losses to achieve 100-percent growth in rice and corn production in 2010.
Every crop year, about 15 percent of the country’s harvest is wasted, prompting the government to import rice.
Lecciones said harvest losses are caused by the rejection of rice infected by aslatoxin, a type of carcinogenic fungi that grow on the grains when these get wet. This is why the DA also needs to assist in putting up appropriate facilities for drying of grains, he said.
A drying machine could cost between P400,000 and P600,000, he said, adding that the amount needed would be too much for farmers.
He said the University of the Philipines in Los Baños and the Bureau of Post Harvest and Extension have come up with an affordable drying machines that would cost less than P100,000. The machine is being developed in Bohol.
This would minimize the wasted harvest and prevent the country from importing rice, Lecciones said.
He assured, though, that despite “improper and insufficient” irrigation in most areas in Cebu, there is no problem with the province’s rice supply.
Cebu is among the three provinces in the Central Visayas that have the highest rice sufficiency, he said.
Bohol recorded the highest at 90 percent because of the national irrigation facilities there, followed by Oriental Negros.
Because of the shortage of rice in the country, the subsidized price of rice increased last year to P18 from P16, while commercial rice is priced from P24 to P28. (TEP)
