President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said on Monday that the Philippine government is expanding solar-powered irrigation systems to reduce farmers’ operating costs and help sustain agricultural production amid the looming threat of a strong El Niño.

The government has built 3,000 solar-powered irrigation systems nationwide since 2022, Mr. Marcos said during the inauguration of irrigation projects in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, and Pamplona, Cagayan.

“The weather has become increasingly unpredictable, so we must also adjust and make use of the latest technologies available to us,” Mr. Marcos said in Filipino, noting that shifting weather patterns have made traditional expectations of rainy and dry seasons less reliable.

El Niño, a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, typically brings below-normal rainfall and dry conditions to the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia, with episodes tending to recur every two to seven years. Past cycles have brought dry spells that cut into Philippine farm harvests. That history weighs heaviest on rice, the country’s staple crop: rice depends heavily on reliable irrigation, and the Philippines regularly supplements domestic production with imports, which makes water infrastructure a key pillar of the government’s climate-adaptation efforts.

Savings in Pamplona

In Pamplona, Mr. Marcos said solar-powered irrigation could cut monthly operating costs to P50,000 to P100,000 from P300,000 to P400,000 under traditional systems, translating into as much as P300,000 in monthly savings for farmers. The project can irrigate more than 600 hectares, allowing some farmers to plant twice a year instead of once, he added.

Alfonso Lista expansion

In Alfonso Lista, the Alfonso Lista Pump Irrigation System will expand irrigated land to 2,300 hectares from 275 hectares, with projected rice production rising to 26,000 metric tons from 900 metric tons once fully operational, Mr. Marcos said Farmers’ combined income could increase to P159 million from P16 million following the expansion, he added.

Solar-powered irrigation systems use photovoltaic panels to run water pumps, easing reliance on costly fuel or grid electricity — an advantage that becomes more valuable during El Niño episodes, when water is scarcer and pumping demands rise. Because the panels draw on sunlight rather than fuel, operating costs hold steadier across seasons, helping farm budgets absorb both fuel-price swings and the longer pumping hours that dry spells bring.

With the systems now inaugurated, the figures to watch are whether irrigated area, cropping frequency, and yields move toward the projections officials cited — an early measure of how well solar pumping can keep water flowing to rice fields as El Niño conditions develop.

— Erika Mae P. Sinaking, BusinessWorld

Source: BusinessWorld