Various local irrigators’ associations (IAs) are expecting additional income as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. led the inauguration of the Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project (MMIP) 2 located in Barangay Bagoinged here on Monday.

The IAs thanked the President for ensuring the welfare of farmers, particularly in the municipalities of Pikit, Pagalungan, Datu Montawal and Aleosan, which will directly benefit from the project.

“It will have a big impact on us as this will give us hope and help us uplift our lives through increasing our income,” Soliman Udasan, treasurer of the Gli-Gli Lateral H and Lateral H2 IA Inc., said.

With over 100 farmer members, Udasan said the irrigation system would help them sustain their farms’ productivity.

Rhods Payot, president of Balebet Farmers IA Inc., said the project would also help more than 200 corn and rice farmers in their group to improve their productivity.

“We thanked the President for this opportunity. This time, we know we can get out of poverty,” he said.

Multi-billion irrigation project

In an interview at the sidelines during the turnover ceremony, National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Administrator engineer Eduardo Eddie Guillen said the PHP5.133-billion MMIP 2 will help the farmers increase their productivity.

“This is what they need as the number one problem in agriculture is low productivity. This irrigation facility will help improve peace and order, the farmers’ lives, and food security,” he said.

Guillen said the project is not just a mere irrigation facility but also for flood control.

With water sourced from the Maridagao River, the MMIP-2 covers 9,528 hectares of agricultural land in the municipalities of Pikit, Aleosan and Pagalungan in this province, and also Datu Montawal in Maguindanao del Sur under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The project has 4,043 farmer-beneficiaries.

Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza thanked President Marcos for “coming and witnessing the turnover of the irrigation project. It will make our province peaceful, especially the town of Pikit.” (PNA)