‘Impossible dream’ now a reality
GUIMBA, Nueva Ecija – It was described as an impossible dream long-nurtured by 50-year-old farmer Federico C. Cinense III even when he was still a kid.
Never did he realize, however, that this impossible dream of seeing irrigation water flowing to their parched upland farms would become a reality someday.
“Kasi po parang imposible noon na magkaroon ng irigasyon dito sa bayan ng Talugtug kasi napakataas ng elevation dito sa aming lugar,” Cinense told the Journal Group, recalling how the implementation of the National Irrigation Administration-initiated Casecnan Multi-Purpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP) changed their lives for the better forever.
“Dahil sa CMIPP, iyong pangarap ko, yung dream ko at ng aking pamilya ay nagkatotoo,” Cinense added.
Cinense, also the president of the Talugtug-Guimba Farmer-Irrigators Association (TAGUIA) and the 14-strong Federation of Farmer-Irrigators Association-Division 6, said they owed it to the late Engr. Alexander G. Coloma, former CMIPP project manager for his help and initiative in the putting up of TAGUIA, which was registered to the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 18, 2013.
Dr. Jose Ariel G. Domingo, interim Division 6 manager said Cinense’s TAGUIA has a total service area of 2,225 hectares with 1,191 farmer-beneficiaries, covering eight barangays in Talugtug and six in this town.
Domingo explained that the birth of CMIPP and its completion saw Cinense’s dream coming into fruition with the P6.75-billion project providing irrigation water to over 26,000 hectares of new farms in his area of responsibility and also in the Science City of Muňoz.
He said water coming from the Casecnan and Taan rivers in Nueva Vizcaya is being diverted to Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija to serve as an additional source of irrigation water to new farms in the towns of Guimba, Cuyapo, Nampicuan and Talugtug.
Cinense also said the interim Division 6 management provided them with the institutional and management skills, leadership trainings and sustainable irrigation system know-how to help them properly manage the organization.
He said his group, which was awarded the Most Oustanding Irrigator Association-Division Level in 2018 and 2019, is now accredited with the Department of Agriculture as beneficiaries of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) and was granted several types of farm machinery consisting of a thresher, mechanical reaper, transplanter, combined harvester and two shallow tube wells.
