12,000 CL farmers exempted of irrigation fees due to typhoons

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, December 11, 2011-The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) announced that 12,000 farmers from Nueva Ecija and certain towns in Central Luzon who have been receiving irrigation supply from the giant Pantabangan Dam will be exempted from irrigation service fees (ISFs) after their farmlands were devastated by typhoons “”Pedring” and “Quiel” two months ago.

“The farmers will be granted the ISF payment exemptions following the two-month validation conducted by the agency which found that a total of 15,000 hectares out of its service area of 104,000 hectares were severely damaged by the twin typhoons,” Josephine Salazar, operations manager of the NIA’s Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems which operates the Pantabangan Dam said.

Earlier, NIA administrator Antonio Nangel voiced support to a request of local officials in Nueva Ecija to exempt local farmers from paying the ISFs during the cropping season, as their lands were hit hard by the calamities.

The request was made by Gov. Aurelio Umali, Vice Gov. Jose Gay Padiernos and the provincial chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines led by its president, Peñaranda Mayor Ferdinand Abesamis who noted the trail of destruction left by the twin typhoons in the province where at least P2 billion worth of palay was damaged.

Umali said that the losses suffered by local farmers will surely affect the food security situation in the entire country.

A resolution passed by the SP chaired by Padiernos said the damage will surely burden the farmers and their families who pay an average of 2.5 cavans and 3.5 cavans of palay per hectare during the rainy and during the dry season, respectively for irrigation water provided by NIA through the Pantabangan Dam.  

But Salazar clarified that those who will be exempted are farmers with average yields of 40 cavans and below and not those above the ceiling provided by NIA.

“That’s our standing policy, adding that if those above the 40-cavans ceiling are exempted, this will surely affect the operations of UPRIIS particularly in the maintenance of irrigation facilities and the water delivery,” Salazar said.

“We cannot possibly grant the request of other farmers whose average yields are above 40 cavans as this will affect the operations of UPRIIS,” she furthered.

She said that the 15,000 farmers who will be exempted translate into around P3 million worth of ISFs which could have been utilized for irrigation canal maintenance and the fuel requirements of UPRIIS. 

UPRIIS services the 27 towns and five (5) cities of the province, Candaba in Pampanga and San Miguel and San Ildefonso in Bulacan involving 88,000 farmers, of whom who 62,046 paid a total of P232.4 million last October. Last year, farmers paid P203.4 million in ISFs. (Jason de Asis)