The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has finally turned over the P134 million worth of communal irrigation system to the 809 beneficiaries of Mawab Cluster Agrarian Reform Community, Mawab ComVal Province.
Being the biggest irrigation project in the entire country implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform through the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project II (ARISP II), the structure has a target irrigable area of 1,100 hectares of agricultural lands in Barangays Nueva Visayas, Nuevo Iloco, Bawani and Poblacion.
Regional director Rodolfo Inson said that teamwork is the number one ingredient that made this endeavor a reality.
He also said that implementers encountered numerous problems and challenges before and during project construction which put their perseverance to test.
He enjoined the recipients to take do their part of maintaining the structure so that this will serve the community a long time.
Provincial Agrarian Reform officer Eduardo Suaybaguio of Compostela Valley said after two years of hard work, the structure will now start to serve the community which will result to productivity and increased income of farming households.
As everybody expects a grandiose turnover ceremony of the countrys biggest irrigation project, he said, Beauty and elegance can only be seen in simplicity and stressed that its more important that the system will now start to serve its purpose.
Servino Hitalia, president of the Mawab Integrated Irrigators Association, Incorporated said in his acceptance speech assured the implementing agencies of their willingness to pay the loan amount of 109 million pesos in 50 years.
ARISP II is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Philippine Government and is implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform in tandem with other government agencies like the National Irrigation Administration, Department of Public Works and Highways, local government units and peoples organizations. (DAR XI/PIA XI)
