A total of 515 farmers who are members of 55 irrigator associations (IA) from Abra, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao are now one step forward towards irrigation water savings after attending the training on Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) conducted during the first semester of this year.
The AWD technology, also known as controlled irrigation, is a water management strategy, practiced to cultivate irrigated rice with much less water than the usual system of maintaining continuous standing water in the crop field.
The implementation of AWD involves using an observation well or a ‘field water tube’ (‘pani pipe’) to monitor the status of field water above the ground and within the root system. In this process, rice fields are flooded to a lesser extent, allowed to try to a predetermined level, and then subsequently reflooded.
The trainings were conducted from January to June this year in 15 batches—3 batches for Abra River Irrigators Association with 75 participants, 3 for Ifugao under the Hapid IS in Lamut and Alfonso Lista Pump Irrigation Project (ALPIP) with 160 participants, 7 for Upper Chico River Irrigation System (UCRIS) with 140 participants from Kalinga and Quezon and Mallig, Isabela, and 2 for West Apayao Abulug Irrigation System (WAAIS) with 140 participants from Apayao and Cagayan areas.
Through this approach of monitoring water levels and implementing water-saving irrigation practices, the national irrigation systems in the Cordillera aim to optimize water usage and mitigate the impacts of El Niño on agricultural production in the region. This strategy not only helps safeguard crop yields but also ensures the sustainability of water resources during dry seasons, or in times of water crisis.
Photo 1 Caption: Actual field demonstration for the Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Training for West Apayao Abulug Irrigation System (WAAIS) held in June 2025
Photo 2 Caption: AWD Training for Irrigators Associations for the Alfonso Lista Pump Irrigation Project in Ifugao held on January 30, 2025
Photo 3 Caption: AWD Training for Hapid Irrigation System in Lamut, Ifugao held in two batches in January 2025
Photo 4 Caption: AWD Training for the Upper Chico River Irrigation System (UCRIS) held in seven batches in February and March 2025
Photo 5 Caption: AWD Training in Abra conducted in three batches in February 2025