The government is spending around PhP1 billion next year for the third tranche of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) re-fleeting program.
The nationwide program aims to improve the agricultural sector and attain food security in the Philippines.
“This investment in our irrigation infrastructure attests to our unwavering commitment to supporting the backbone of our economy — the agriculture sector,” President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said in his speech during the turnover ceremony of various operations and maintenance equipment of the NIA in Mexico, Pampanga, on Wednesday.
President Marcos turned over the second tranche of equipment under “NIA’s Three-Year Re-Fleeting Program” – realizing the administration’s commitment to making the irrigation systems in the Philippines functional and effective.
The second tranche comprises 148 newly procured heavy equipment amounting to PhP782 million.
In 2023, the first tranche of equipment — 141 units of excavators amounting to about PhP776 million — benefited 17 NIA regional offices.
The Chief Executive said the distribution of the equipment goes beyond the provision of new machinery as it also empowers the NIA regional offices, the irrigators’ associations, and the farmers to ensure the sustainability of the country’s irrigation systems.
It also aims “to avoid losses and to promote more efficient use of water resources that will, in turn, produce better and more crops.”
Through the re-fleeting program, President Marcos said repairing and building more irrigation facilities that were damaged by natural calamities such as typhoons Carina and Butchoy can be immediately done.
With the said machinery and equipment optimizing the irrigation systems, NIA was able to provide services to more than half of the country’s National Irrigation Systems (NISs) and Communal Irrigation Systems (CISs). At present, NIA has 257 NISs and 8,802 CISs.
“We will not stop finding solutions that work for our farmers. We remain steadfast in our efforts to employ sustainable technologies to meet our irrigation needs,” the President stated. PND
