ARISEP will irrigate 12,800 hectares of rice land
URDANETA CITY– With the expected completion of the Agno River Integrated Irrigation System Extension (ARISEP) in 2017, with a budget of P2.6 billion approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Pangasinan is confident it can retake its position as the rice granary of the Philippines.
Already the third largest rice producing province in the country after Nueva Ecija and Isabela, ARISEP is set to irrigate additional 12,800 hectares of land in Pangasinan.
ARISEP seeks to irrigate agricultural lands in San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Rosales, Sto. Tomas and Alcala, Pangasinan; and up to San Manuel, Tarlac. which are all rainfed areas and being planted with rice only once during the first cropping season where water is plentiful because of the rains.
John Celeste, regional irrigation manager and concurrently project manager of ARISEP, said the project will start this year with a budget of P67 million and another P.12 billion in 2016.
ARISEP is a continuation of the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARIIP) concentrated on the right side of the Agno River that was already completed.
With only one year left in his office, the NEDA board approved the construction of ARISEP to further boost food security in the country, said Celeste.
The completed ARIIP now provides irrigation water in 12,530 hectares of land in Asingan, Balungao, Bautista, Binalonan, Calasiao, Laoac, Manaoag, Mapandan. Mangaldan, Natividad, Sta. Maria, San Manuell, San Quintin, Sta. Barbara, Tayug, Villasis and Urdaneta. It benefits 29,207 farmers tilling rice lands.
Celeste said completion of the ARISEP will enable Pangasinan to further increase its rice harvest as farmers can now plant rice two or three times a year instead of only once. (Leonardo Micua)
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