Senator Cynthia Villar has sponsored a bill that seeks to make permanent the free irrigation services to small farmers.
Senate Bill No. 1465 under committee report 103, or the Free Irrigation Service to Small Farmers Act of 2017, exempts small farmers, or those farmers whose combined farm-holdings cover an area of not more than five hectares, from paying the irrigation service fees (ISF).
Villar, who chairs of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, noted that farmers are already reaping the benefits of free irrigation with the inclusion of P2 billion in the 2017 national budget to cover the ISF being collected from farmers.
The senator, however, stressed the need to make free irrigation a policy to institutionalize it and make it more permanent.
“As I have repeatedly cited, Filipino farmers and fisherfolks are still among the poorest in the country and freeing farmers from the burden of paying irrigation service fees will significantly reduce production cost, hasten productivity and increase the income of farmers,” Villar said in her sponsorship speech.
“Farmers and fisherfolks comprise 40 percent of Filipinos living below the poverty line,” she added.
Villar said the bill is in line with the commitment to contribute to the lowering of the cost of production of small farmers who cannot afford to pay the ISF of national and communal irrigation systems, and relieve them from the burden and consequence of unpaid ISF.
She noted that the proposed bill seeks to level the playing fields for Filipino farmers with the farmers of Thailand and Vietnam who are heavily subsidized by their governments. (Elena L. Aben)
