Maibalik ang karangalan bilang nangunguna sa Asya pagdating sa usaping irigasyon. This was one of the major visions of the Irrigator’s Association Irrigation Management Transfer (IA IMT) orientation seminar held on February 28, 2012 at  the Masaya Multipurpose Hall in  Bay, Laguna.

With the mission, Patuloy na pagpapaunlad at pamamahala ng sistema ng patubig at pagbibigay ng nagandang serbisyo alinsunod sa programang pang-agrikultura ng pamahalaan, three representatives from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) facilitated the orientation together with other three representatives from the Municipal Agriculture Office. Fifty farmers who are to be the founding members of United Masaya-Puypuy Irrigator’s Association (UMPIA) were the participants of the event.

This orientation seminar aimed to inform and educate the members of UMPIA about irrigation management and to prepare them to be an independent organization.

Mrs. Grace Bayo-Manalo, one of the participants, explained NIA currently holds all control of the irrigation system of the area. Bayo-Manalo added that the participatory irrigation management (PIM) will enable the participants to have additional profit sources and to benefit from a lower-priced irrigation service for their fields. With the IA MIT program, the management will be transfered to the farmers during the turn-over ceremony scheduled on March 1, 2012 at the regional office of NIA in Pila, Laguna. The management of larger projects such as construction of infrastructures, however,  will remain with NIA.

The irrigation management transfer of NIA aims to further enhance the irrigation system in the country through the promotion of participative management. The program is also a means of minimizing the management and maintenance cost of NIA. The implementation of PIM is anchored on on RA 7607 or Magna Carta of Small Farmers and RA 8435 or Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.

by Marie Eugenie B. De Guzman