The ‘1-village, 1-dam’ promise made by the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is already being implemented by the Mahama administration under the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru has said.
“He [Nana Akufo-Addo] is now promising but we are doing. You cannot just go and start creating dams. Technical feasibilities are important to find out what is suitable for a particular area. The dams are not the only solution… if you do only dams and there are no equipment for farmers to till the land or no fertilisers, how do you increase yield. Yes, dams are important but it is not everywhere that dams are also suitable,” Alhaji Muniru noted.
Mr Akufo-Addo, who was speaking to the Bolgatanga Traditional Council in the Upper East Region about his plans for Ghana’s agriculture in a future government under him, said: “As far as this part of our world is concerned, I want to go further and talk about one village, one dam.”
Mr Akufo-Addo said his ‘1-village, 1-dam’ policy was to help Ghana become self-sufficient in food production and even become an exporter of food to the sub-region.
But the Minister, in an interview with Prince Minkah on the Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, 29 August indicated that the NDC government had already done extensive work on the provision of dams and irrigation facilities around cropping areas in the northern parts of Ghana.
He explained that various policies and acts were already in place to back the establishment of several irrigation projects. Notable among such policies, he said, is the Water Users Association Act, which he said had already been approved.
He pointed out that the Ghana Commercial Agricultural Project (GCAP) was already addressing the irrigation project at Tono in the Upper East Region. There are rehabilitation works on the Bontanga Dam and the Vea irrigation project is progressing steadily.
He indicated that GCAP was also undertaking a 3000-hectare rainwater harvesting scheme in the Nasia-Nabongo valley.
He said an initial phase of 385 hectares were already under cultivation since July 2006. The Tamne irrigation system, which is expected to provide about 225 hectares of irrigable land, was also inaugurated by President Mahama recently and was under construction, he explained.
According to the minister, since 2009, the ministry had developed about 3,625 hectares of irrigable lands and had rehabilitated about 8,044 hectares of land for irrigation.
He indicated that new irrigation schemes for a total land area of 245,550 hectares had been identified.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
