I have always believed firmly that an agrarian reform program will largely be ineffective in making successful farmers out of erstwhile tenants if they are unable to have access to a stable supply of low-cost irrigation water.
The great majority of Filipino farmers are low-income folk. That fact, coupled with the relatively high cost of National Irrigation Administration water, has brought about the inadequately-irrigated or un-irrigated character of most Philippine farms. The vicious cycle of low productivity dragging down farm incomes is to a large extent responsible for the poor performance of Philippine agriculture, the persistent poverty of Filipino farmers and this country’s continuing inability to achieve the not-unachievable goal of rice self-sufficiency.
Help is on the way.
In the same manner that Filipino chemist Aisha Mijeno—she of the Apec CEO Summit appearance with US President Barack Obama and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma—and her colleagues have found a simple, inexpensive and sustainable solution to the continuing absence of electricity in rural and upland communities, so Philippine Rice Research Institute is making progress in the development of a lower-cost irrigation method.
First, a few words about the present, prevalent method of irrigating Philippine farms. The present method, called the drip-irrigation method, involves the delivery of water through a network of pipes consisting of a main pipe, lateral pipes, a sub-main and a manifold. The water is emitted through small outlets called drippers down to the soil. The capillary principle does not come into play.
Apart from its being too costly for the average Filipino farmer, the drip-irrigation method becomes problematic when it is used for irrigating soil below the surface. In general, it is not a cost-efficient irrigation method.
The alternative method being developed by PRRI, a capillary-principle-based method, uses a water distribution system similar to that used by the drip-irrigation method. However, explains project researcher Ricardo Orge, the new method involves water flowing from the source towards the capillary pipes and, through gravity, going directly into the crop through a wick.
The materials to be used for the new method don’t have to be conventional plastic pipes, which are expensive. They can be less expensive pipes or even recycled materials. This is possible because the new method operates at close to atmospheric pressure.
PRRI says that the new method is close to wide scale use. It believes that small-scale farmers will be the greatest beneficiaries of the new irrigation method. Considering that agriculture is the weakest sector of the Philippine economy and farmers are among the poorest members of Philippine society, that is welcome news indeed.
One can only hope that the new method will be in wide use before the current El Niño phenomenon reaches its expected peak in the early months of 2016.
E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com