Cabinet Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. is encouraging farmer-cooperatives in the Ilocos Region to adopt the solar-powered fertigation system project (SPFSP) through the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a press conference here on Tuesday, Esperon said only Ilocos Sur has implemented the project out of the four provinces in the region.
“An innovative way (of) bringing about more fertilized land using solar energy,” he said.
Esperon said the PHP65-million project is a large-scale irrigation system powered by solar energy where fertilizer components are included in the irrigation water.
Interested cooperatives may coordinate with the DA in their respective provinces, he added.
The SPFSP, a partnership between the Philippine government and the Mashav, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, seeks to raise the yield of rain-fed areas by at least 20 percent.
It is part of the USD280-million Philippine Rural Development Project’s (PRDP) second additional financing for the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) along with other projects.
The additional funding for the PRDP supports the regional thrust of agricultural development and regional productivity, contributing to the country’s commitment to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals on no poverty, zero hunger, industry, innovation and infrastructure, and responsible consumption and production.
Meanwhile, aside from this project, the DA has provided PHP41.6-million assistance to African swine fever-affected families in 2020 in the region, Esperon reported during the Kasama sa Pamana: Regional Pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Series seventh leg.
The DA and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources have also distributed farm inputs and equipment amounting to PHP637 million last year to farmers and fisherfolk groups in the region.
Farmer Marvin Malicdem, 36, a member of Bulalacao farmers’ organization in Mangatarem town in Pangasinan, said the farm mechanization program of the government has a huge impact on their productivity.
“Gumagaan ang trabaho namin at tumataas ang produksyon namin. (Our work has become easier and our production increased),” he said, adding this is the second time the association received equipment from the national government
Source: Philippines News Agency