Exploring Alternative Technology for Irrigation
Written by: Flor L. Magbanua
Grace loves rainy days. It’s the season when she and husband Juanito do not need to pump water from surrounding irrigation canals to grow their rice. The National Irrigation Administration does not charge them with irrigation service fee but they spend about Php4,000 for pumping alone in their half-hectare rice farm during dry seasons. So when they heard that their land is included in the target area for irrigation through a ram pump, Grace couldn’t contain her joy.
“Hay salamat, matapos na ang malawig nga panahon nga ang irigasyon nagalabay lamang sa amon uma, makaangkon na gid man kami sang iya serbisyo (Oh, thank you, after a long period of time, we can now benefit from irrigation canal that passes through our farms),” she exclaimed.
A ram pump is a two-moving parts device that utilizes the energy contained in a free flowing water. It does not need fuel or electricity to work, instead uses the force of large amount of moving water situated above the ram to pump water to a desired elevation. It needs a minimum head or drop of one meter between the source and ram to apply the technology. The principle of the ram is conversion of velocity into pressure.
ram pumps created by AIDFI
The ram pumps will be supplied by the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. (AIDFI), a non-government organization based in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. It was founded by Dutch Auke Idzenga and Leonidas Baterna in 1991.
AIDFI has been in ram pumps for over 20 years. It has perfected a model based on local available parts and spare parts. It runs its own shop and fabricates ram pumps of different flow rates. Flow rate varies from 15 to 1300 liters/minute depending on the size of the ram pump. AIDFI has a pool of experienced ram technicians and had installed hundreds of ram pumps here and abroad.
The ram pumps will be initially installed in Lateral A of Bago River Irrigation System. This will serve as a pilot project in delivering irrigation water to highland areas along canal system.
After pilot testing, this technology will be introduced in other irrigation systems as another measure towards rice self sufficiency program of the government. This measure was initiated by Regional Manager Gerardo P. Corsiga, Division Manager Joel A. Basiao of Negros Occidental Irrigation Management Office and Engr. Jonel B. Borres of NIA Regional Office.
With this technology, same opportunities for better irrigation can now be enjoyed by hundreds of farmers, other than Grace and Juanito. Their farm location, which lies above canal elevation and is unfortunately known as the sacrificed area, will finally have a bounty harvest to look forward to.
