Bill filed to create irrigation coordinating agency in Bangsamoro to address gaps, boost production
A PROPOSED law has been filed in the Bangsamoro Parliament for the establishment of an agency that will coordinate the irrigation program in the autonomous area in Mindanao, where the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) does not have a regional office.
“With the establishment of the irrigation coordinating office in the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), the Bangsamoro Government would be able to address the irrigation gaps and it would be able to work directly on irrigation system development in the autonomous region,” said the authors of Bill No. 107.
The authors are Minority Floor Leader Laisa M. Alamia, Deputy Minority Floor Leader Baintain A. Ampatuan, and Member of Parliament Amil S. Mawallil.
The bill, one of the measures filed last week as the region’s parliament reopened for its 3rd regular session, is up for first reading.
Based on the Bangsamoro Development Plan 2020-2022, BARMM’s irrigated farmlands covered 50,096 hectares, which is only about 31% of the potential irrigable areas of 160,150 hectares as of 2018.
“This implies that the Bangsamoro region still has vast irrigation potentials that, if properly developed, will address food security and rice sufficiency in the region,” the authors noted.
Under the bill, the Bangsamoro Irrigation Coordinating Office will serve as the coordinating agency for the comprehensive development of all types of irrigation, in close cooperation with the NIA. — MSJ
