The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said it implemented the P5.133-billion Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project- Stage II (MMIP-II) in Barangay Villarica, Midsayap, North Cotabato.
It said that as of March 2024, the project recorded an overall weighted physical accomplishment (OWPA) of 99.56 percent.
A series of test runs on the completed canal structures in the Lower Malitubog Service Area was conducted on March 18, 2024 to test the readiness and operating condition of the structures before it is turned over to farmer-beneficiaries.
With water source from the Maridagao River, MMIP-II covers 9,528 hectares of agricultural land in the municipality of Aleosan, North Cotabato and the towns of Pangalungan and Datu Montawal in Maguindanao del Sur under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The project has 4,043 farmer-beneficiaries.
Guided by the battlecry of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. for unity to achieve lasting peace and national progress, NIA administrator Eduardo Eddie Guillen advocates bayanihan and personally talked to the residents on the positive impact of MMIP-II completion in their livelihood.
He met with the IA presidents and members and underscored the importance of IAs’ support and cooperation towards the realization of the project.
The installation of solar sump pumps along the dike is expected to provide irrigation to the dried-up areas with a convertible facility for proper water management and agricultural production.
Once proven effective, it will be replicated in the fertile agricultural areas within Liguasan Marsh that will ultimately transform the area into an economic zone of Southern Mindanao.
The project also intends to achieve and sustain peace and order in the region through social and agricultural development.