AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is seeking to increase his department’s budget for its solar-powered irrigation initiative.
“For the solar irrigation project under the General Appropriations Act, we have P250 million this year,” DA assistant secretary and spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said at a forum in Manila on March 6.
For next year’s National Expenditure Program, de Mesa said, “The instruction of Secretary Tiu Laurel… about P50 billion will be devoted to the solar irrigation project.”
Last month, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the government was looking to install thousands of solar-powered irrigation units to help farmers boost their harvests.
The government is setting aside P17 billion for the Philippine Solar Irrigation Project this year, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
De Mesa said the Philippine Solar Irrigation Project was submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) “for deliberation of the ICC [Investment Coordination Committee].”
Tiu Laurel had said solar-powered irrigation was among the measures identified to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
De Mesa said the use of solar-powered irrigation could save farmers around P12,000 to P15,000 per hectare.
He said the estimates were based on the amount per hectare spent by farmers on diesel to power their irrigation pumps. (GMA Integrated News)
