A lawmaker has filed a measure seeking to abolish irrigation fees, restructure the farmers’ unpaid fees, and convert the government’s irrigation office into a line agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a statement, Camarines Sur Rep. Raymund Villafuerte said his House Bill (HB) 2133 aims to streamline the government’s irrigation-development program and carry out its mandate of irrigating 100 percent of irrigable farmlands in the country within a four-year period.
Villafuerte also said the bill also restructures the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) by converting it into a line agency of the DA and renaming it the National Irrigation Development Administration (Nida).
“The country needs to put equal weight to a more streamlined, community-based, small-scale, yet far-reaching irrigation-development program that can be done here and now, and this bill provides the impetus for this goal,” Villafuerte said.
According to the lawmaker, 2.4 million hectares, or 43 percent, of farmlands in the country still lack irrigation, even though the NIA was given the “flexibility of a corporate vehicle and the administrative autonomy” to achieve its objectives under Republic Act (RA) 3601, which created the agency 53 years ago.
“All unpaid irrigation fees shall be restructured under the terms and conditions that are not oppressive to the farmers,” Villafuerte said.
“The proposed refocusing of NIA’s role and purpose further seeks to foster sustainable livelihood among its farmers through improvement in both farm productivity and increased income by abolishing existing laws prescribing the power and authority of the NIA to collect irrigation service fees or other forms of charges for the use of irrigation systems,” he added.
Villafuerte said his measure also intends to make farmers and other stakeholders “accountable and effective partners” in the maintenance of irrigation facilities by providing them with adequate technical aid and functional equipment.
Under the measure, the would-be Nida is mandated “to expedite its irrigation-development programs and be able to irrigate 100 percent of irrigable lands all over the country,” within a period of four years from the effectivity of the proposed act.
“After the lapse of the four-year period, the Nida shall then submit to Congress a detailed report and satisfactory proof of its completion of the 95 percent target,” the bill said.
HB 2133 also aims to repeal Section 4 of RA 3601 creating the NIA board of directors, which will be replaced by the Irrigation Planning and Advisory Board (IPAB).
Under the bill this proposed IPAB shall have the same membership as the previous NIA board, but its functions would be modified to conform with Nida’s new role and priorities.