LGUs Need More Support for Irrigation Systems

While skyscraper-filled Makati City has no agricultural lands, this does not mean that outgoing Mayor Abby Binay—now running for a Senate seat—cannot appreciate the necessity of having a good irrigation system that can help grow palay in the countryside.

- By DELON PORCALLA

"We need to put more money into our irrigation. Imagine the potential of those lands for us to achieve food security and not rely on the importation of food," Binay, a senatorial candidate of President Marcos' Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, said at a press briefing in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on Friday.

She said a significant portion of the country's agricultural potential remains untapped due to inadequate irrigation systems, and cited a statement from Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. that over a million hectares of flatland remain unirrigated.