Second District Rep. Victor Agbayani said more than 100 communal irrigation systems built by the provincial government when he was governor could now serve to mitigate the long dry-spell now affecting many farmlands in Pangasinan.

        It was these irrigation facilities, he said, that enabled many farmers to shift to hybrid rice production, a high-value crop.

        “Today, Pangasinan has 17,000 hectares, one of the highest numbers of hectares devoted to hybrid rice in the country,” Agbayani said.

        Although palay production is expected to drop this year because of the dry-spell, Agbayani is confident that Pangasinan will remain as the biggest rice producer in the region.

        “Last year alone, the increase in the harvest was more than one million cavans or an equivalent of P500 million gross income for our farmers,” Agbayani pointed out.

        Refuting claims supposedly made by Gov. Amado Espino Jr. that Pangasinan has been left behind by other smaller provinces, Agbayani said Pangasinan for almost a decade has been ruling the list of provinces in the region in terms of revenue collections.

        “The 2007 third and fourth quarter funds are intact. The provincial economy is in good shape. Since my first term in 1998, the province had attained increasing budget surpluses yearly,” Agbayani said.

        However, the provincial government needed to borrow P300 million from the Land Bank of the Philippines to fast track implementation of vital projects such as irrigation dams, roads and bridges and the rehabilitation of government hospitals, Agbayani explained.–LM

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