NIA turns over three solar-powered irrigation projects in Ilocos Norte

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region I has turned over three solar-powered irrigation projects in Bimmanga, San Antonio and Sallaguid, Piddig, Ilocos Norte, providing irrigation service to 45 hectares of farmland.

House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Representative Ferdinand Alexander A. Marcos joined the turnover ceremony. The projects are intended to improve water access for farms and support more productive harvests and better livelihoods for farmers.

Julio M. Tomas, president of the Sociodad de Labradora de Sallaguid Irrigators Association Inc., said the solar pump would help address water shortages in distant parts of their fields, where rice crops had previously struggled during the second cropping season.

“With the solar pump, we can now meet the water needs of the 10 hectares it covers,” Tomas said.

Joey M. Pascual, president of the Bimmanga-Loing Farmers Irrigators Association Inc., said the project would ease irrigation for farmers and pledged that the association would take care of the solar facility.

The projects are expected to make it easier to deliver water to farms that have had difficulty accessing irrigation supplies.