Agbato farmers prepare for double dry cropping

Farmer-members of Agbato Calinog IA Inc. are preparing for their third cropping, or double dry season, in what the National Irrigation Administration’s Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Stage II described as a first for the project’s rollout.

The milestone follows the delivery of irrigation water to Barangays Aglibacao, Badu, and Toyungan beginning in October 2025, according to project information released by the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Stage II office.

Agbato is one of the irrigators associations organized by the project management office within the Zone 1 Main Canal 2 area of the project.

As of the end of 2025, an estimated 500 farmer-beneficiaries in Zone 1 Main Canal 2 had benefited from the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project’s partial operation.

The early gains in Calinog form part of the broader Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Stage II, which NIA describes as the first large-scale water reservoir project in the Visayas and Mindanao and its flagship project in Western Visayas.

NIA said the project is designed to deliver year-round irrigation, bulk water supply, hydroelectric power, and other long-term benefits to communities covered by the system.

The agency said JRMP II includes irrigation development, environmental and watershed management, and institutional development, with the latter covering the organization of irrigators associations in newly irrigated areas.

The full project is projected to benefit about 25,000 farmers and their families, underscoring the significance of partial irrigation deliveries already reaching farming communities such as those in Zone 1 Main Canal 2.