Deal inked for Ecija food, water security

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija — The Provincial Government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office III (DSWD FO III) are ready to implement Project Local Adaptation to Water Access (LAWA) and Breaking Insufficiency through Nutritious Harvest for the Impoverished (BINHI) in Nueva Ecija.

Solidified by the 8th Regular Session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Project LAWA and BINHI aim to provide answers to the challenges of water shortage and food security due to climate change, particularly the effect of El Niño in the province.

According to Social Welfare Officer I Don Luistro Ronquillo of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), under these projects, facilities for water storage such as water reservoirs, will be developed through excavation to ensure there is enough supply of water for the community and farmlands during the dry season.

Aside from this, the proposed water reservoir will also be used as a source for communal gardening or vegetable farming that will come from the Department of Agriculture to increase the production of food and ensure that Novo Ecijanos eat nutritiously.

Ronquillo cited that 1,400 beneficiaries are allotted for the province of Nueva Ecija that will come from the towns of Cuyapo, Rizal, San Isidro, Talugtug and Zaragoza, adding that each beneficiary will receive P10,000 as salary for working 20 days, which includes the five-day salary for training and 15 days for field activities.

As additional profit, the water reservoir can be used to breed fingerlings that can augment their salary, or beneficiaries could sell their harvested vegetables and fishes, or consumed as food for the family of the beneficiaries.

The PSWDO has also conducted a site visitation to the beneficiary LGUs, with the implementation expected to be done within six months.