CEBU CITY, Philippines—Despite the enhanced community quarantine, farmers in Carmen, Bohol started planting at their rice fields, encouraged by the newly installed solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS) at the municipality.

Salvador Diputado, region al executive director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Visayas, made the disclosure in a news release posted on the DA-7 Facebook page.

Diputado conducted on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, an ocular inspection of DA’s completed SPIS project in Barangay Katipunan, Carmen.

With the SPIS, rice farmers could achieve three harvests of palay in a year, unlike the pre-SPIS days of only two harvests, he pointed out.

“The farmers are no longer dependent on rain,” Diputado said.

During the inspection, he observed that farmers have already started planting rice using the water supplied through the SPIS.

“The newly-installed SPIS can benefit 15 hectares of riceland,” Diputado explained. He added that the SPIS in Carmen is the second fully functioning irrigation system in Bohol that is energized by solar power.

Filipino staple food

The P5.7M SPIS project of DA provides support to Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s Food Resiliency program amid this pandemic.

The said project will ensure that the production of the Filipino staple food continues, especially in this time of health crisis.

In Central Visayas, Bohol is the top producer of palay and has contributed over 70 percent of the region’s total palay production in 2018. Irrigated rice fields also contributed to the bulk of palay production on the same year. /bmjo