The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will design a revenue-sharing scheme for farmers and indigenous people (IPs) who will manage the forest areas surrounding the massive P4.37-billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Project (CRPIP) in Pinukpuk, Kalinga.

In a statement, the DENR said it targets to continue and sustain a watershed and agroforestry management in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), a project co-financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB), over a much longer period.

This is to make sure the availability and replenishment of water in the CRPIP, a massive irrigation project and is considered as a flagship project of the Philippine government.

The construction of CRPIP started on August 8, 2018, and was supposed to be completed this year. But due to the pandemic, its completion was pushed back to 2022.

Once completed, CRPIP is supposed to irrigate 8,700 hectares of agricultural land in the Municipality of Tuao and Piat in Cagayan, and the Municipality of Pinukpuk in Kalinga, benefiting 4,350 farmers and their families.

The DENR's watershed and agroforestry management in Cordillera is part of the long-term sustainability plan of the government in areas surrounding the CRPIP.

The watershed management project of DENR includes 5,056-hectare revenue-earning agro-forestry sites, which are grown with fruit-bearing trees, vegetables.

It was approved in 2012 and was originally conceived to preserve and conserve the Upper Chico River Basin that straddles through Mt. Province, Kalinga, Apayao, and Ifugao provinces.

The project, under the Integrated Resources Environmental Management Program (INREMP), is in its final year of completion. Thus, a sustainability plan with a revenue-sharing scheme is now being mapped.

“Chico River Basin has vast potentials for development. It has potential for electric power, irrigation, domestic purposes, and recreation. The river harnesses the major irrigation systems to water its vast rice lands. As a result, Kalinga has been promoted as a rice granary of the region,” said Ralph C. Pablo, project director of INREMP in Cordillera.

INREMP is co-financed by the ADB, which allocated a restructured loan amount of $57 million for the project. The project has so far established 3,701 hectares of reforested areas and 5,056 hectares of agroforestry in the province.

It has also established a total of 6,533 hectares of assisted natural regeneration area, with naturally-growing young trees (regenerants) that are cleaned and trimmed. The areas are supported to grow trees with ring weeding, thinning to avoid crowding, fertilizer application, and planting of open spaces.

Meanwhile, a separate 955 hectares of commercial tree plantation (CTP) have been grown by the IPs using fast-growing tree species such as Benguet pine, Gmelina, and Mahogany, which are harvestable from eight to 20 years.