Savannakhet families to benefit from GMS irrigation project
Savannakhet families to benefit from GMS irrigation project
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) East-West Economic Corridor Agriculture Infrastructure Sector Project last week presented certificates to 95 families who donated their land and other property worth about 800 million kip to enable an irrigation project to take place.
The irrigation project is being introduced in four villages in Phalanxay district, about 2 kilometres from the district centre in Savannakhet province.
National Project Coordinator, Mr Saylom Chansouk, said the Phanomxay Improvement Irrigation Sub-project was the first of 25 projects under the GMS East-West Economic Corridor Agriculture Infrastructure Sector Project. The irrigation project is now 85 percent complete.
The irrigation project comprises three components: rehabilitating or improving irrigation schemes, helping farmers to use them efficiently, and handing over the project to local farmers.
The venture involves rebuilding or improving irrigation systems such as by installing more water pumps, building larger water channels, building access roads, and creating an area of interest to visitors.
The irrigated land will be expanded by 50 hectares to 250 hectares. In the wet season farmers can grow crops on 200 hectares and in the dry season on only 70 hectares, with most of the farming being rice.
Pumps and other components of irrigation schemes have deteriorated because they are old and have not been cared for, so the water is not channelled to farmers as it should be.
After the irrigation system is upgraded, crop growing areas will increase to 250 hectares and there will be sufficient water to grow rice and other crops.
The project will cost US$1,657,267 and is expected to benefit the villages of Phanomxay, Phalanneua, Phoxay and Namak, which are home to 763 families.
Mr Saylom said the project aims to boost the income of farmers in these villages by helping them to grow more crops, including rice and cash crops, in the wet and dry seasons, and teach them farming skills so they obtain higher yields and more crops to sell.
Mr Saylom said that before the project began they met with villagers and authorities to discuss the scheme. All of the villagers agreed to donate their land and other property to the project free of charge, even though compensation was offered, as they believed the project would benefit them in the future.
The whole GMS project has received a US$60 million loan from the Asian Development Bank under an agreement signed with the government in December 2013. The project is scheduled for completion in 2022.
