An P18-million worth of irrigation project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is set to irrigate early next month 124 hectares of agricultural lands in Quezon in the province of Palawan.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio De los Reyes said the communal irrigation project of the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project (ARISP), a foreign-assisted project of the DAR, will greatly benefit farmer-beneficiaries in Barangay Berong, who are dependent on rainfed rice-farming system for a long time.
The ARISP, now on its third phase, provides agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) with infrastructure support such as irrigation, farm-to-market roads, and post-harvest facilities to alleviate poverty, institute agrarian change and spur economic growth in agrarian reform communities (ARCs) nationwide.
The project was carried out first quarter of the year and is now on the final stage of checking all the details of the facility to ensure a smooth implementation on September.
“The irrigation is expected to double farm productions as farmers can now enjoy two or three cropping seasons a year,” De los Reyes said.
“Like any other CARP-beneficiaries, the DAR is mandated to link our community to any available CARP-funded programs to ensure our farmers’ progress since they received the lands awarded to them by the department,” he added.
The province has already received P127.5-million from ARISP’s first phase and roughly P200-million for the second phase. Most of the projects were in the form of rural infrastructure, institutional and agricultural support and credit facilities. PAS-DAR
