Farmers in Quezon province will now enjoy sufficient irrigation water as the National Irrigation Administration, led by NIA Administrator Ricardo Visaya, inaugurates the Quipot Irrigation Project located in Tiaong Quezon. 

The partial turnover is set to irrigate some 1,815 hectares of agricultural lands in Quezon Area through its Lateral A1- Extra. This will initially benefit a total of 1,151 farmers in various barangays in said municipality.

NIA IV-A Regional Manager Romeo Lopez, in his speech, highlights the potential of the project to improve agricultural productivity not only in Quezon province but in CALABARZON as a whole. RM Lopez expresses his gratitude to Irrigators Associations and Local Government Units (LGUs), who one way or another, played a vital role in the realization of the project.

“Ang inauguration at partial turnover ng Quipot Irrigation Project dito sa probinsya ng Quezon ay resulta ng patuloy na layunin ng Ahensya na makapagbigay ng maayos na patubig sa ating mga sakahan. Ito rin ay naging posible sa pamamagitan ng maayos na koordinasyon natin sa ating mga stakeholders kabilang diyan ang ating Provincial Government Unit, District Representative, at Local Government Units.”, he added.

Once fully completed, the locally funded project amounting to Php-1.4 billion targets to promote rice self-sufficiency in the four (4) municipalities in Quezon including Tiaong, San Antonio, Candelaria, and Sariaya and two (2) municipalities in Batangas province namely San Juan and Rosario.

“Nalaman nga po natin na medyo natagalan ang proyektong to bago mapakinabangan ng ating mga magsasaka. Pero ngayon nakikita na natin na unti-unti napapatubigan na natin ang mga sakahan dito sa Quezon province.”, said NIA Administrator Ricardo Visaya.

He shared that this endeavor was made possible through the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte to fast-track project construction and implementation with its Build Build Build program.

The project’s primary objective is to provide year-round irrigation water to 2,800 hectares of paddy fields during wet and dry seasons.

Its main features are the construction of diversion works, irrigation facilities and access/service roads. It has an estimated water discharge of 5.95 cu.m. per second with a height and crest length of 5.50m and 50.3m. respectively.

Further, the Provincial and Local Government Units officials express their gratitude to NIA in pursuing this vital project in attaining rice productivity in the region. They further extend support on the upcoming irrigation projects of the Agency within the province.

“Makakaasa po kayo na susuporta kami sa layinin ng NIA na makapagpatubig dito sa probinsya. Kayo po ang magsisilbing technical namin kapag nagpatuloy na po ang pag devolve ng ating mga Communal Irrigation Systems (CIS) sa ating mga lokal na pamahalaan”, said Engr. Rowell Q. Radovan (Office of the Provincial Governor)