Piñol Spearheads Prototype Solar Powered Irrigation System
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol spearheaded the establishment of the prototype Non-Inverter Solar Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) in its pilot site located in barangay New Janiuay, M’lang, North Cotabato on a land owned by Antonio Jugos and Alfonso Palmares and first tested on 22 December 2016.
Piñol disclosed that he wanted to explore the potentials of solar-powered irrigation system. “The idea to build the first prototype Non-Inverter Solar-Powered Irrigation System was actually a result of the many trips I made to the countryside which I called ‘Biyaheng Bukid’,” he said. He hoped that the journey “would bring him to all the remote areas of the country never before reached by other national government officials and I wish to complete this before Rody Duterte assumes the Presidency on June 30.”
Piñol started his ‘Biyaheng Bukid’ in May 2016 after hearing the message of the then President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to the participants of the Food Security Forum which Piñol organised on 21 April 2016 in Davao City. “My governance will be very simple. It will revolve around the well-being of the Filipino people. I will ask them “Nakakain na ba kayo?,” “Nakapagpagamot ba kayo?,” “Nakapag-aral ba ang mga anak ninyo?,” “Wala na ba kayong takot?,” Duterte said. Piñol was “endlessly inspired” by Duterte’s statement.
In the last week of June, Piñol returned to Coachella Valley, Southern Callifornia to meet his Filipino-American friend Rocky French, founder of Aqua Farming Tech[^aqua farming tech]. French introduced Piñol to a young American solar power engineer, Moses Khuu after Piñol asked French to design a small solar-powered system for the rice fields of the Philippines.
Khuu with brother-in-law, Gabriel Gonzales, and Korean-American Kyuu Whang travelled to the Philippines in September 2016 to build a solar-powered irrigation system in a 5-hectare property of Jugos in New Janiuay, M’lang, North Cotabato. Piñol narrated that Khuu’s team developed a no-inverter solar powered system requiring no battery for power storage and could power a 10-HP water pump even under overcast skies. The irrigation system uses 50 solar panels pumping out 800 to 1,000 gallons per minute on intensely hot days and 400 gallons on cloud-covered days. According to a technical study made by the Department of Agriculture’s Central Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering Division (CAFED), it could irrigate 15 hectares every day or 150 hectares in 10 days.
The water is distributed using Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes instead of open irrigation canals which addresses problems of leakage, seepage and evaporation. The solar-powered irrigation system also powers a tilapia production system called “Circle of Life” using aquaponics and taking advantage of an aeration technology called the “Venturi System”.
The Department of Agriculture and local government unit of M’lang led by Mayor Russel Abonado undertook the project with a commitment of an P8 million funding support from the department.
According to the Secretary the system could be developed in less than 30 days with a minimum of 10 workers with an estimated cost of P50,000 to P60,000 per hectare. The big irrigation systems of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) cost ranges from P350,000 to P450,000 per hectare of rice farm. The SPIS is about P300,000 lower per hectare.
On 3 January 2017, the President led the ceremonial switch-on of the first prototype of the SPIS in barangay New Janiuay, M’lang, North Cotabato. ●