25,000 Negros Farmers to Go Hungry as NIA Shuts Down Irrigation

Farms are turning dry just as El Niño is about to set in. But in Negros – as in many other regions – irrigation systems are being shut down for rehabilitation. Peasant leaders say that the rehabilitation of irrigation systems – which have been in bad shape due to years of neglect – is being used as a pretext to corner billions of pesos of foreign funding.

By Karl G. Ombion and Edgar A. Cadagat 
Bulatlat.com / Cobra-ans

BACOLOD CITY –  As many as 25,000 farmers will be displaced and at least P2 billion worth of crops lost with the closure of the entire Bago River Irrigation System (BRIS) by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) from March 16-May 15.

Organized farmers said the sudden closure of the irrigation system at this time when the whole country is reeling from the onset of El Niño will deprive them of income for eight months to a year, forcing their families in their tens of thousands to go hungry. BRIS covers the towns of Murcia, Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, La Carlota City and Bago City.

But Richard Sarrosa, chair of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines) in Negros, charged that the closure is just a yearly gimmick of NIA and local officials using the pretext of rehabilitating and upgrading BRIS “in order to get billions from the funding agencies.” In fact, he said, there is no real improvement going on as far as BRIS is concerned.

“They have made a milking cow out of the peasants and aid from foreign governments,” Sarrosa said. “They forget the thousands of peasants and irrigators associations who actually subsidize the salaries and operations of NIA, render free labor during canal construction and bring revenues to government’s coffers.”

Last Thursday, farmers from Bago, Valladolid and San Enrique trooped to the offices of NIA and city hall in Bago to demand the immediate stop to the closure plan. Sarrosa denounced NIA over the irrigation system’s early closure without even waiting for farmers to harvest rice crops.

The closure will stop water irrigation to some 8,500 hectares of farm land which are tilled by 25,000 farmers. Irrigation is badly needed with the current dry season and the onset of El Niño which could bring further devastation to other farms not affected by the closure.

Rehabilitation

NIA officials said BRIS is being closed to pave the way for its rehabilitation and the upgrading of irrigation canals covered by the project.

The agency had asked for P9.6 billion from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to finance its two priority irrigation projects until 2004. Of the total amount, P8.6 billion is earmarked for the upgrading of the Agno River Irrigation Project in Pangasinan, and P1 billion for the BRIS.

Bulatlat.com also learned from NIA sources that the budget for BRIS this year has been increased to P1.9 billion.

Sources from NIA-BRIS who asked not to be named said that some P90 million has been released to cover for the engineering work, consultations, planning, survey and construction.

Rogelio Pagarita of Busay Farmers and Laborers Organization (BUFALO), a local affiliate of KMP-Negros,  said that “the closure will render us without produce and income from January to August because we are supposed to start another cropping from January to June, and begin land preparations in July and August for new cropping in September to December.”

Displaced farmers cannot also rely on side-incomes such as duck-raising and vegetable-gardening as these livelihoods also depend on water supplied by BRIS.

In Busay alone, Pagarita said, at least 50 hectares of riceland have become arid because NIA had closed irrigation for the area days before the date of effectivity catching many farmers off-guard. In Bago, 4,000 hectares of land or 50 percent of the town’s total land area will lose 320,000 cavans of rice.

“We will lose most of what we planted due to lack of water and the onset of hot summer,” he said.

Arrogance

Sarrosa, meanwhile, assailed Bago City Mayor Janet Torres’s arrogance and lack of compassion for the poor when she told farmers “mga bat-olan kay kabalo na sila nga magsara nagtanum pa…” (They are hard-headed because they still planted when they knew already of the irrigation closure).

He also charged NIA-BRIS for incompetence and making the lives of farmers even more miserable. NIA, he said, used to supply water to around 17,000 hectares. Water irrigation supply dropped to 12,700 hectares two years ago and today, under the stewardship of Engr Crisencio, reportedly a protege of Rep. Charlie Cojuangco, the agency is only servicing 8,500 hectares.

And yet, he said, irrigation fees charged by NIA to farmers have increased several-fold.

From P900 per hectare, BRIS authorities are now charging P1,500 per hectare for the use of irrigation water during the dry season. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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