Bench terracing: a cost effective alternative to traditional irrigation in the Philippines
Date
2000-06
Authors
Priest, John E., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
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Abstract
The case study presented in this paper, a pilot program for the construction of permanent bench terraces throughout the Philippine islands, was designed to increase grains production at costs that would be competitive internationally. Additionally, the terraces would alleviate the severe problem of hillside erosion that currently is silting rivers, reservoirs and canals. Compacted dikes would form terraces for capturing all depths of rainfall, in-place. for crop production. With the generally predictable rainfall regimes particular to each island of the Republic, one to three high yielding crops could be produced annually without the construction of flood-vulnerable diversion works, reservoirs, and long canals. A Pilot Project was designed to achieve construction of some 1400 separate terraces averaging 50 hectares each, in several areas of the three regions of the country - Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. For execution of the project, the central government could decide to purchase equipment and employ personnel to complete construction. Alternatively, the central government could elect to contract construction and engage local government to provide legal, social, and administrative support. The landowners, in this case, likely would enter into a tripartite contract with a bank and a developer, not with the government. For either scenario, the objective of the pilot program would be to demonstrate to landowners, nationwide, that they could come together and transform now largely unproductive hillsides into land that could produce high yielding crops of maize, sorghum, millet and grain amaranth. Besides encouraging private investment on a broad scale, it was anticipated that through the pilot program, local government would gain expertise and resources. Local government and landowner cooperation would be of critical importance because then on-going reforms had subdivided land to an extent that would require a range of legal and social actions to reaggregate small holdings into viable project blocks. Development costs would approximate US $800 per acre ($2000 per hectare), 1997/98 prices, whether carried out totally as a private development or as a government program.
Description
Presented at the 2000 USCID international conference, Challenges facing irrigation and drainage in the new millennium on June 20-24 in Fort Collins, Colorado.