CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--To further improve the status of the irrigators associations in northern Mindanao, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)-10 has urged the irrigators associations (IAs) to transition from an association into a cooperative to enable farmer members to further venture into having businesses or transactions that can provide an additional income during its three-day Regional Irrigators Association (IA) Congress, March 29.

"Our administrator urges a transition from an association into a cooperative. He also suggested starting the cooperative’s membership limited only to the association members to make it stable prior to recruiting additional members," NIA-10 Acting Regional Manager Armando Arizala said.

The agency aims to help 560 IAs per year, starting in 2024, engage in business, with high hopes for the approval of the proposed project.

Associations that passed the functionality survey with an outstanding mark and are part of the top fifteen either in the Communal Irrigation System (CIS) or the National Irrigation System (NIS) can avail of the business assistance program and are then required to submit a business proposal to be subjected to review and approval by the agency.

"Sa susunod na taon, ang NIA merong target na every year, dapat may 560 IA [Irrigators Association] ang magkaroon ng negosyo. Sa susunod na taon kung maaprove ang ating proposal, ang bawat region ay bibigyan ng konting budget para sa panimulang kapital ng mga IA para sa negosyo gaya ng livestock trading, fish and aquaculture trading, rice trading, at iba pa na papasok sa guidelines," NIA Central Office Institutional Development Division Manager Martin Tacloban shared.

(Next year, NIA has a target of 560 IA per year that will have a business. Next year, if our proposal is approved, each region will be given a small budget for start-up capital of the IAs businesses such as livestock trading, fish and aquaculture trading, rice trading, and more, which is in line with the guidelines)

Tacloban emphasized that in the proposal, a total of six million pesos will be downloaded per region as funds for the start-up capital of the IAs. Training and other capacity-building programs are also expected to be given to the IAs to ensure that they will become successful not just as an organization but as a business entity as well.

NIA-10 Regional Manager Arizala had set a challenge to all IAs to make sure that their association would not be left behind by other regions' federation irrigator associations and urged them to use their innovation, initiative, and common sense to guarantee their success. (JAKA/PIA-10)