BIZ BUZZ: DA appeals for more irrigation funds
If the Marcos administration wants to see higher agricultural output in the next few years, it would do well to consider allotting more funds for irrigation.
This was expressed by Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa, who said that if around at least P100 billion of the budget for developing flood control projects had been earmarked instead for irrigation and drainage, many farmlands would have seen higher output.
De Mesa, who also serves as the Department of Agriculture’s spokesperson, shared this view as he lamented the billions of losses in agriculture caused by heavy rainfall and flooding.
“If our flood control system is effective, for example, if there are floods and they subside quickly, the damage to the agriculture sector will be much less because the sector is also the number one sector affected by storms and floods,” he told reporters in Filipino.
In 2024, the sector recorded P57.78 billion in damage, more than double or 136.4 percent more than the toll on the sector the previous year, due to the combined effects of natural calamities and El Niño and La Niña weather phenomena.
The DA said palay losses average 500,000 to 600,000 metric tons (MT) annually. But this surged to 1 million MT in 2024.
“Hopefully, if the agriculture sector is a priority [of the government], we appeal for a greater budget for it because these provide water to farmlands. The good thing about them, especially dams, is they prevent flooding, especially by impounding, such as small water impounding projects,” he added.
Will this appeal convince the government to make a long-term investment in irrigation, something that the DA has been appealing for the longest time? One can always hope.
