Senators declare support for PDU30's free irrigation

The doubts and uncertainties are over.President Rody Duterte's commitment of free irrigation for the country's rice farmers will certainly be implemented starting 2017.It will be the first time in the history of Philippine agriculture when irrigation water will be provided free for the Filipino rice farmers.The powerful Senate Finance Committee headed by Senator Loren Legarda has cleared all doubts after it declared full support to the commitment of President Duterte for free irrigation for the country's 2.5 million rice farming families.Legarda, along with vice chairman Senator Cynthia Villar and members Ralph Recto, JV Ejercito, Francis Pangilinan, Miguel Zubiri and Risa Hontiveros, during the budget hearing of the Department of Agriculture committed the inclusion of P4-B in the General Appropriations Act of 2017 to cover the Irrigation Service Fees (ISF) collected by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) from the country's rice farmers.Her commitment of support to President Duterte's Free Irrigation Policy came after an impassioned plea from Sen. Zubiri, an agriculturist by profession, who said that the country's rice farmers have not been given the support they deserve from government.Legarda publicly declared during the hearing that the Senate Finance Committee will ensure that the needed funds to cover the ISF for 2017 will be provided pending the approval of a bill filed by Sen. Villar on Free Irrigation.The NIA collects the ISF from the rice farmers whose rice lands are served by its irrigation systems.Under the scheme, NIA gets 60% of the fees collected and the irrigators' associations get the remaining 40%.The NIA's share is used to pay for the salaries and wages of its officials and employees.The collection of the fees has been very poor, however, with the unpaid irrigation fees totalling P13-B over the past years.The payment of the irrigation fees has seriously affected the profitability of rice farming in the country as the cost of water services is estimated at P3 for every kilo of palay produced.In contrast, irrigation is free in Vietnam and Thailand. Both are rice exporting countries and major suppliers of the Philippines rice requirements.The Senate Finance Committee's commitment of support for Free Irrigation for the country's rice farmers followed similar expression of support by Congressmen.With the funding commitment by the Senate Finance Committee, President Duterte's promise of free irrigation for the Filipino rice farmers will finally be realised.