Pinol revolutionizes solar-power irrigation system this year

MLANG, North Cotabato -- Agriculture Sec. Emmanuel Pinol has envisioned a solar-powered, non-converter irrigation system for free to farmers across the country beginning this year. Time has come that farmers across the country will no longer worry about the cost of irrigating their farmlands because the country is rich with water sources that can be tapped for free. Pinol saidand The idea to build the first prototype Non-Inverter Solar-Powered Irrigation System was actually a result of the many trips I made to the countryside. Before he was named agriculture secretary, Pinol, a farmer by heart, has started travelling all over the country he dubbed as Biyaheng Bukid to personally see the country’s agricultural situation. It was in a trip to Aparri, Cagayan Valley when he found out the great irony of so much water in the huge Cagayan River but rice fields just beside the massive body of flowing water were dry and unproductive during the summer months. Pinol recalled visiting a farm of a friend in Thermal City, Southern California. His friend used solar powered water pumps that drew water from underground. In June, Pinol returned to California where his friend, Rocky French, introduced him to Moses Khuu, a young American solar-power engineer. Pinol asked Khuu to design a small solar powered system for his hometown Mlang in North Cotabato. Khuu did and, along with his brother in law Kyu Whang, a Korean-American, built the first ever solar-powered irrigation system in Barangay Janiuay, Mlang, North Cotabato. And just after Christmas, Pinol switched-on the first Non-Inverter Solar-Powered Irrigation System in the presence of officials of Barangay New Janiuay, led by Barangay Chairman Godofredo Constantinopla and the landowner, an old farmer named Antonio Jugos. Pumping out water from a pond just beside the 5-hectare property of old man Jugos using a 10 horsepower water pump, the System is capable of submerging 3 to 4 hectares of rice fields in a day. Pinol said it could provide water to a contiguous area of between 50 to 100 hectares using a pipe distribution system. What is amazing with the system is the speed with which it could be assembled in the field, he said, adding that the two foreigners could build the system in two weeks when all materials are available. He said President Duterte is invited to formally switch on the first No-Inverter Solar-Powered Irrigation System early next year and that would signal the start of the Solar-Powered Irrigation Revolution in the country. These 50 solar panels are enough to power 10 horsepower water pump that can haul wate at the rate of about 600-800 gallons per minute that is enough to submerge 4 hectares a day, Pinol said. The water pump, he said, will no longer use expensive batteries So if we can develop this, we will be able to make sure that un-irrigated areas can have a second cropping, he added. Pinol said farmers will no longer worry about the cost of producing water through diesel fueled water pump. He assured farmers that President Duterte has set aside P2 billion from the 2017 Department of Agriculture budget He said the national rice program is funded by a P9 billion budget and out of that, he added, he can sourced about P2 billion. The project will not only benefit rice farmers but other high value crops in upland areas in the country. Jugos, a 77-year-old rice farmer in Barangay Janiuay, Mlabng, could not hide his emotions. Since he started farming several decades ago, Jugos had been relying on rains to water his farms. He harvest once a year. In my six decades of farming, I never thought I am still alive to see this agricultural revolution Sec. Pinol has envisioned, he said with his eyes getting misty. His five hectare rice field is now the DA’s pilot area for no-inverter solar powered irrigation system. When Sec. Pinol decided to make his rice fields a model, Jugos said, Everyone in the village was happy, even farmers in our neighbor villages were elated because they too can benefit from the project. Never in my wildest dreams that this project will come to us on a silver platter, it came to us, we never thought about it since…we are glad we have a native of Mlang to head the agriculture department, Village Chairperson Godofredo Constantinopla of Barangay Janiuay, said.