NEDA approves irrigation projects worth P23B, says Agri Dept.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday announced that the National Economic and Development Authority approved four major irrigation projects worth P23 billion.   Once completed, the projects would irrigate 138,560 hectares of land benefiting some 94,460 farm-households, the department said during the 2nd Quarterly Agriculture Management Committee meeting in Roxas City, Capiz.    “We (need) to discuss strategies on how to effectively carry out our respective programs and projects to achieve our food sufficiency targets, and see if we have already gathered momentum to pursue what we are set out to do the rest of the year,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said at the meeting.   Alcala noted farm officials should “focus and deliver results” as the department received almost twice of its budget for this year. The government agency was allotted with P61.4 billion, nearly twice its P38.58-billion budget in 2011.   As of March, about P41 billion of the budget has been frontloaded to different regional offices, bureaus, and farm agencies, Agriculture Undersecretary for finance and administration Antonio Fleta said.   Meanwhile, the department launched Sikat-Saka program in four pilot provinces, including Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Iloilo, and North Cotabato. The program would provide the credit component of the department’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program.   Subsequently, the “Fish for Peace” project in Mindanao was also introduced. The initiative aimed to provide sustained fishery and marine livelihood projects and employment opportunities to fisher folks in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. —RRD/VS, GMA News