Southwest PR RCPP Projects
On December 21, 2016, USDA awarded two new RCPP projects in the Caribbean Area.
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| Aerial view of farmland in Guánica Bay, southwest PR. Foto aérea de tierras de cultivo en la Bahía de Guánica, suroeste PR. |
Through the Adaptation Measures in Southwestern Puerto Rico Project, the Southwest Soil and Water Conservation District (Suroeste SWCD) and its 6 partners requested $918,460 in State funding to improve the Lajas irrigation system. This system, located in southwestern Puerto Rico, was built in the mid-1950's to supply four acre-feet of supplemental irrigation water to nearly 20,000 acres of fertile agriculture land. Project partners plan to build a new water conveyance system and several water storage lagoons to supply water by gravity to participating farms in the area, a semi-arid region with fertile soils. The partners will develop application tools to help farmers plan when and how much water to apply for optimal soil moisture and water resources in the region. The partners will make applications available to all farmers in the region so they can decide when and how much to irrigate based on simple data entry quests that uses information on crops and date of planting. The rest of the information will be retrieved from existing SSURGO databases, a new USGS climatological network for the area.
Cabo Rojo & Lajas farmers: apply for irrigation funding assistance under 2017 RCPP before 16 Jan. 2020! - NEW!
The Sugar Cane Industry Restoration Project, led by Serralles Agricultural, LLC in partnership with the Government of Puerto Rico and multiple private landowners, requested $2,000,000 from the National funding pool to promote sugar cane agriculture in the western and southern regions of Puerto Rico through agricultural management and natural resources conservation practices. Project partners will restore and expand existing water systems to preserve and enhance local aquifers, particularly in the arid south, while increasing the productivity of agriculture in these economically depressed regions. The Project also will improve soil structure and limit erosion and water runoff, while enhancing air quality, especially in Ponce where sugar cane bagasse will replace oil for boilers at the Serralles Distillery and reduce carbon dioxide levels.
RCPP focuses on locally-led public-private partnership efforts to deliver conservation solutions that help to protect important drinking water supplies, provide critical habitat for many at-risk species, enhance environmental markets, make farms and ranches more resilient, and address important waterways.
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| NRCS is working with partners to improve water supply and management in southwest Puerto Rico. |
More Information
Contact:
José A. Castro, Assistant State Conservationist for Programs, 787-281-4962 or 787-501-6144
