LANAO TOWN BUILDS LGU-FUNDED SOLARPOWERED WATER SYSTEMS

Lanao town builds LGU-Funded Solar-Powered Water Systems

The small town of Taraka, Lanao del Sur (Pop. 25,000) on Tuesday commissioned two of its six units of Solar-Powered Water Systems to irrigate some 700-hectares and provide potable water for its constituents under an Economic Enterprise Program which allows it to recover its investments.

Taraka thus becomes the first local government unit in the country to operate a business enterprise by providing irrigation and water services to its constituents, exercising the corporate powers of the LGU stipulated in the Local Government Code.

The SPIS units will now enable rice farmers to plant twice a year and improve their production from 3.5 metric tons per harvest once a year to at least 8 metric tons twice a year.

This will also mark the beginning of the Taraka Rice Industry to produce, process and market premium rice.

Two private seed companies, Seedworks Phils. and Ramgo Seeds International have pledged to support the program by providing hybrid high-yielding seeds to produce long grain premium rice.

PhilRice, PhilMech and the Department of Agriculture Northern Mindanao Region are also supporting the program.

the launching of the Mindanao Water Supply Program on Dec. 6, 2019 which was conceptualized by the Mindanao Development Authority and supported by the Dept. of Interior and Local Government and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

Taraka Mayor Nashiba Gandamra Sumagayan, a former professor of the Mindanao State University, and officials of the town asked MinDA to enrol the town in the program.

Even at the height of the COVID 19 Pandemic, MinDA staff started the ground work early in 2020 while DBP processed a loan package for Taraka town which included the acquisition of roadbuilding equipment.

MinDA staff led by Northern Mindanao Area Management Office Director Olie Degala, backed by planners and staff of MinDA based in Davao City prepared the Master Plan for the Development of Agriculture in Taraka and the establishmet of a data base. In January this year, construction of the six Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems and a SolarPowered Water System with a Filtration System started.

On Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, six months after the start of the construction, the first two units of the Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems were commissioned.

The Solar-Powered Water Ssytem with a Filtration Facility is expected to be completed by November this year.

Attending the commissioning of the SPIS units and the ceremonial planting were MinDA officers and staff, Development Bank of the Philippines President Emmanuel G. Herbosa, Director Jeanie Sandoval and DBP officers, BARMM-MAFAR Deputy Minister Ammal Solaiman, local officials led by Mayor Nashiba Sumagayan, Vice Mayor Odin Sumagayan, council members, barangay chairmen and farmer leaders.

Taraka now stands as MinDA’s model of a selfreliant local government unit which will be replicated in other parts of the region to spur its economic development, boost productivity and address rural poverty. (MinDA)

NATIONAL NEWS