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NIA Administrator Ricardo R. Visaya, together with Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Governor Robert Lee Rodrigueza, and other NIA and local government officials, led the Groundbreaking Ceremony of P381.51-million Ibingan Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (Ibingan SRIP) on June 25, 2018 in the Municipality of Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon.

The groundbreaking of Ibingan SRIP is in line with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s 10-Point Socioeconomic Agenda envisioned to reduce poverty from 21.6% in 2015 to 13-15% in 2022 through infrastructure platforms yielding robust growth across the archipelago..

Ibingan SRIP, whose water sources come from Ibingan River, covers barangays San Antonio, San Ramon, Lupi, Quidolog, San Juan, Sto. Domingo, Rizal, Gogon, San Isidro, Bulawan, Sta. Lourdes, Ulag, Calao, San Fernando, and Carayat in Prieto Diaz, and Bagacay in Gubat, Sorsogon. It has a total service area of 489 hectares, benefiting 584 farmers and their families. It aims to provide sustainable development in the rural area by improving agricultural productivity, as well as increasing agricultural production through the provision and improvement of irrigation and drainage facilities, thus increasing farmers’ income and uplifting their standard of living.

NIA Central Office – The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) ventures to floating solar power project on its dams and reservoirs as the SN Aboitiz Power Group has already proposed a water-based solar power project in Magat Dam in Isabela which features solar panels fixed to floats on the water surface.

Such power group will conduct a 2,500-square meter pilot project over the Magat reservoir, a small-scale preliminary study prior to the performance of the large-scale project. The floating solar power project size is yet to be decided after the study.

The result of NIA’s research shows that this water-based solar power project is more beneficial than the land-based one which converts large portion of agricultural lands into solar plants, making irrigable farmlands smaller. This results to the decrease in food production and poses a threat to the country’s food security. It also defeats NIA’s purpose of constructing and developing more irrigation systems in the country to ensure rice self-sufficiency. Instead of indulging into land-based solar project, NIA thus offers its dams and reservoirs for the water-based project which can achieve the same purpose of increasing power production while saving agricultural lands.