The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will need foreign financial assistance to fund its solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) project. Its regular budget, the agency explained, is not enough to bankroll the program.

This was bared by Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering Director Cristy Polido, who said the DA is fast-tracking the submission of the SPIS proposal and feasibility study to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to gain access to foreign financial assistance.

“The NEDA needs the official proposal from DA so they can study it and give us access to foreign financial assistance. We have our regular budget but it would not be enough. We need to fast-track it,” Polido told the Daily Tribune.

“We already coordinated with the NEDA on this one but we still need to secure their clearance for this project. On the concept level, there is no problem with NEDA,” Polido clarified.

Without NEDA’s approval, the DA would not be able to access the fund earmarked by the LR group for the project.

It was in July when former Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol announced that Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz had signed an agricultural cooperation agreement which includes a P44-billion loan to fund the project.

Considered a flagship program of the previous DA regime under President Duterte, Piñol said the SPIS can irrigate 500,000 hectares of farmland throughout the country and prepare it for the next El Niño.

The amount could also pump from 400 to 1,000 gallons of water a day and benefit up to 150-hectares of land.

The project that is slated to establish a network of 6,200 SPIS units in two years would involve the LR group, an Israeli firm funding the entire program through a loan payable in 10 years.

“The LR group is prepared to give us P44 billion financial assistance for the SPIS program but we need proper documentation for that. It could be higher or it could be lower depending on the outcome of the feasibility study,” Polido said.