TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Some 76 farmers from Barangay Laya West here are the beneficiaries with the completion of the second phase of the Laya West Communal Irrigation System.
The PhP18.5 million project funded by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and implemented by the National Irrigation Administration – Kalinga (NIA) will provide water for 133 hectares of rice farms in said barangay.
“Hopefully you will use it properly and take proper care of this irrigation system. Hopefully, this project will help in the progress of Laya West,” IA-Cordillera Regional Manager Benito Espique Jr. told the famer-beneficiaries during the turn-over ceremony at the Laya West Barangay Hall last Wednesday.
The Wednesday turn over ceremony formally saw DAR and NIA-Kalinga gave the “key” to the project to the Jose Anniban Farmers Irrigation Association (JAFIA), whose 76 farmer-members are the main beneficiary of the irrigation project.
JAFIA president Reynaldo Wansi expressed his gratitude to the DAR and NIA-Kalinga for the project which he said has significantly improved productivity in their area.
“Akseptaren mi daytuy nga sipupuso. “Manipud idi inummay daytuy nga project, adda ti percentage nga ngimatuan iti apit gapu ti dimmakelan iti danum (We are accepting this project whole heartedly. With this project, there is an increase in harvest because of increase in volume of water [for irrigation],” Wansi added.
Wansi said that members of the organization have undergone training and learning to better care of the system.
Mayor Darwin Estrañero said the city government is also doing its share in helping the farmers from said barangay with the construction of farm to market road to facilitate the delivery of agricultural products.
He said, that a PhP 8 million farm to market road is being constructed in Barangay Laya West, during the turnover ceremony where employees and officials of NIA-Kalinga and DAR-Kalinga, Provincial Administrator William Puday Jr., who represented Gov. Ferdinand Tubban, Regino Wacas of Rep. Allen Jesse Mangaoang’s office, Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee Andres Ngao-i, Laya West Punong Barangay Hilary Sumbad, among others, were present.
