NIA turns over completed irrigation system to irrigators in Ifugao

NIA-CAR Division Manager for Engineering and Operation Raymundo Calusin (second from left) and Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association President Marcelo Mayumi test the opening of the distribution pipes of one of the reservoir tanks of the Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System during the ceremonial turnover of the project in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao on a rainy morning on February 8, 2023. They are flanked by NIA-Ifugao Satellite Office Head Patrick Resurreccion and Institutional Development Unit Head Paulita Yagyagan.

TINOC, IFUGAO: The Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association of Brgy. Binablayan will now be in charge in the operation and maintenance of the Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System (SIS) after the ceremonial turnover of the project on February 8, 2023.

Funded under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program-Irrigation Component (CARP-IC), the Huh-lucan SIS serves 60 hectares with 70 farmers. The area is part of the Tinoc Agrarian Reform Community (ARC).

“Dakkel nga tulong kanya tayo daytoy, karkaro nu summer. Almost 50% ket makaggarden ket tadta, maibagak nga 100% nga masibogan dagiti mulmula tayo,” [This is a big help to us, especially during summer. If we can plant 50% before, now I can say that we can already irrigate 100% of our crops.]  said Marcelo Mayumi, president of the Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association.

Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association represented by its president, Marcelo Mayumi (second from right), accepts the turnover documents of the Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System during the ceremonial turnover in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao on February 8, 2023. The NIA as implementing agency ceremonially turned over the irrigation system to the DAR as the funding agency before it was accepted by the Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association. [from L-R: Winnie Guioan from the Office of Tinoc Mayor Samson Efren Tacio, NIA-Ifugao Satellite Office Head Patrick Resurreccion, NIA-CAR Division Manager Raymundo Calusin, IA President Marcelo Mayumi and DAR-Ifugao Provincial Office OIC-Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer Leonor Bascos]

“Namnamaek nga agtitinulong tayo nga organization tapnu mamintinar tayo daytoy ken bumayag tapnu maabutan met dagiti annak ken appoko tayo in the future,” [We hope that we, as an organization, will work together in the maintenance of this irrigation so that our children and grandchildren will be able to use it in the future] urged Mayumi to his fellow members of the Irrigators’ Association.

The NIA as implementing agency ceremonially turned over the irrigation system to the DAR as the funding agency before it was accepted by the Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association.

The Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System irrigates vegetables areas totaling to a service area of 60 hectares of with 70 farmers in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao. The Municipality of Tinoc is dubbed as “The Salad Bowl of Ifugao”.

With a total project cost of P7.7 million, the project involved the construction of an intake structure, four units of reservoir tanks, four units of suspended pipeline, main pipeline with total length of 4.275 kilometers and lateral pipeline of 251 meters.

“Thank you very much because the NIA is really implementing well the projects. This is according to the report of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee (PARCCOM), an independent body under the Office of the President that monitors CARP-funded projects,” said Leonor Bascos, OIC-Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer of the DAR-Ifugao Provincial Office.

“Our humble request to the Irrigators’ Association that will use this irrigation system is to utilize it with tender, loving care so that magtagal po ang ating proyekto at abutin pa ng mga susunod na henerasyon,”  urged Engr. Raymundo Calusin, NIA-CAR Division Manager for Engineering and Operation.

Calusin assured that while the irrigation system is officially turned over to the Irrigators’ Association for operation and maintenance, the NIA will still assist the IA, and enable the members through various trainings. He said that the IA will be very instrumental to the goal of President Marcos of having food security in the country.

Despite the rain, the turnover is attended by various officials from the DAR, PARCCOM, LGU-Tinoc, NIA-CAR regional office and Ifugao Satellite Office headed by as well as members of the Irrigators’ Associations.

Photo Caption 1: NIA-CAR Division Manager for Engineering and Operation Raymundo Calusin (second from left) and Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association President Marcelo Mayumi test the opening of the distribution pipes of one of the reservoir tanks of the Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System during the ceremonial turnover of the project in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao on a rainy morning on February 8, 2023. They are flanked by NIA-Ifugao Satellite Office Head Patrick Resurreccion and Institutional Development Unit Head Paulita Yagyagan.

Photo Caption 2: Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association represented by its president, Marcelo Mayumi (second from right), accepts the turnover documents of the Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System during the ceremonial turnover in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao on February 8, 2023. The NIA as implementing agency ceremonially turned over the irrigation system to the DAR as the funding agency before it was accepted by the Huh-lucan Irrigators and Farmers Association. [from L-R: Winnie Guioan from the Office of Tinoc Mayor Samson Efren Tacio, NIA-Ifugao Satellite Office Head Patrick Resurreccion, NIA-CAR Division Manager Raymundo Calusin, IA President Marcelo Mayumi and DAR-Ifugao Provincial Office OIC-Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer Leonor Bascos]

Photo Caption 3: The Huh-lucan Small Irrigation System irrigates vegetables areas totaling to a service area of 60 hectares of with 70 farmers in Brgy. Binablayan, Tinoc, Ifugao.  The Municipality of Tinoc is dubbed as “The Salad Bowl of Ifugao”.