A National Irrigation Administration infrastructure development in Iloilo is almost finished in its second phase of construction and is set to boost rice output and benefit 25,000 farmers and 4,500 indigenous people in the said province.

According to the Department of Agriculture, the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project is a P19.7 billion program of the NIA that will benefit 23 towns and two cities in Ilolilo.

“This project, which we expect to complete within the year and be fully operational by mid-2025, will greatly contribute to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s vision of increasing food production and helping our farmers have better lives,” said agriculture chief Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr., on Wednesday during the inspection of the infrastructure.

Once completed, the project will irrigate 9,500 hectares of rainfed farms which will raise the rice yield by 71 percent to 338,000 metric tons.

Moreover, the NIA-led project features 6.6-megawatt power generation, bulk water, fishery, tourism, flood control, housing for indigenous people, and carbon sequestration components.

“The watershed and buffer zone management of JRMP II involves 17,290 hectares that will be reforested and sequester carbon dioxide to generate carbon credits that could be sold and help fund other projects.”

“We also appreciate the project funding provided by government of South Korea, through the Korea Eximbank and the Economic Development Cooperation Fund of Korea. The financing that the South Korean government allowed NIA to pursue the second phase of this important project, which actually started in the early 1960s, years before I was born,” said Laurel.

According to the DA, the Jalaur River Basin is the second largest river basin in Panay Island and provides irrigation to Iloilo, which was the fifth largest rice producer province in the country last year.

It produced 1.07 million metric tons of rice output last year—higher than the 1.02 million MT volume harvest in 2022.