Former secretaries Emmanuel F. Pinol and Leonardo Q. Montemayor of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said using a solar-powered irrigation systems in the country's farmlands could help ensure rice self-sufficiency at competitive price levels.

In a joint statement, the former agriculture secretaries urged the Marcos administration to undertake a nationwide solar-powered irrigation program to improve rice production in the country. 

Pinol and Montemayor said that some 200,000 hectares inadequately serviced by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will benefit from their recommendation.  These areas, which are located at the tail-end of NIA’S dam-sourced irrigation distribution system, get minimal or no water especially during the dry season.

An additional 1.5 million hectares of rain-fed uplands can be planted to rice and/or high value crops like soybean and vegetables during the dry season, Pinol and Montemayor said.

“The beauty of solar-based irrigation is that it is free (coming from the sun), renewable, environmentally sound.  It reduces farmers’ irrigation expenses since it does not require increasingly costly diesel fuel,” they pointed out.

The 137 solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS) program was introduced by Pinol and launched by President Duterte in 2017 in M’lang, Cotabato.  In 2018-19, DA completed an SPIS in Lumban, Laguna built by the LK Group of Israel and the country’s largest SPIS in Llanera, Nueva Ecija in cooperation with the Filipino-owned Ramon Uy Foundry and Machine Shop Corporation based in Bacolod City.

According to Pinol, he had proposed - as Duterte’s first DA Secretary - an Israeli-funded nationwide program.  However, a P40-billion soft loan offer by the Israeli government for over 6,000 units of SPIS to cover 500,000 hectares had not been acted upon by the economic team of the previous administration.

Meanwhile, Montemayor said that a similar proposal was submitted to the Office of the President early this year by Oscar I. Violago, developer of the successful Casecnan multi-purpose power generation and irrigation dam project in Nueva Ecija in the late 1990s.  The project is currently servicing some 137,000 hectares in Central Luzon, the country’s rice granary.

“Malacanang’s response is still being awaited,” he disclosed.

Montemayor said that there are currently over 300 various solar irrigation projects already established by the DA, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Bangsa Moro Autonomous Region, and local government units.

“These and future development plans need to be coordinated and scaled up to achieve rice and food security goals at the soonest time possible,” he added.