ROSALES—Farmers in eastern part of Pangasinan are expecting to produce less in their first crop owing to the delay in completion of the ongoing repair of the brass dam that diverts water to their irrigation canals.

Oftociano Manalo, president Federation of Irrigators Associations in Pangasinan, said it will take two months before the rehabilitation can be finished.

“There is no irrigation water so the farmers are complaining,” he said.

He said he has advised their farmer-members not to plant yet last month but some did not heed his call.

The brass dam in Sta. Maria town along the Agno River was destroyed by the last two successive typhoons last year.

The water discharged by San Roque Dam goes to the brass dam that diverts water to farmers’ irrigation canals.

Farmers affected are those in the fifth and sixth districts of Pangasinan.

To ease their plight, Manalo said he will ask the provincial government to provide additional water pumps to compensate for the loss of irrigation.

He said because of this, farmers would have to delay their planting by two months more for their second cropping.

To speed up the dam repair, he will also ask the provincial government to lend its backhoe and dump truck.

There are 12,000 hectares of irrigated areas here that rely on the irrigation facility with an average yield of five tons of palay per harvest, he added. (Tita Roces)

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