Manny Piñol
It has been almost two months since Cotabato had a significant rainfall to allow farmers to plant.
In fact, we had to put on hold all of our Sorghum and Soybeans expansion program because the land is bone dry.
In spite of this, however, I was able continue with the second cycle of the propagation program of our new Soybeans variety from India.
This is simply because the area is just small as we are only sowing 5 kilos of newly-harvested seeds and it could be covered by our irrigation system using perforated pipes called Sumisansui Mist Irrigation.
The Sumisansui that we installed in the farm is connected to water pipes which draw water from our deep wells using a submersible pump.
This system works perfect with the Solar Powered Irrigation System which I introduced in March 2017 but was scaled down later because of lack of funding support.
We should not really be afraid of the long dry spell if only we have established irrigation systems just as the desert regions of Southern California had excelled in Agriculture even if they do not get enough rain every year.
In contrast, the Philippines which has substantial rainfall and even flooding caused by the yearly typhoons suffers from lack of water even with just two months of dry spell.
We are not prepared for another El Niño because government failed to implement the recommendations made five years ago when a dry spell rendered parts of Metro Manila waterless.
I remember that at the height of the Metro Manila Water Crisis, then Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana presided over a crisis management meeting to craft measures to address the problem.
As Secretary of Agriculture, I remember submitting at least two major recommendations:
1. Endorsement of the Israel Loan Offer of P44-B to build Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems to irrigate 500,000 hectares;
2. Adoption of the proposal to undertake a National Water Conservation and Management Program which would build Sabo Dams, Catchment Basins and Mini-Reservoirs to hold run-off water during the rainy season.
Just like the many government initiatives during a crisis, everything was forgotten when the rains came and the water supply normalized.
Now, here we are again faced with another crisis.
We never learn.
The ending of this story again would be to allocate calamity funds for water pumps, seeds and “Ayuda” to farmers whose farms will be affected by the drought.
This reaction will not solve the problem.
It will only prolong the agony because government is reactive instead of being proactive.
May kasabihan ang mga matatanda: “Hindi kayo gagalaw hanggat hindi nasusunog ang mga puwet nyo.”
This is one of the tragedies that our country and our people have to perpetually face and bear.
When will this end? (Manny Piñol)