By Stanley Senya
Accra, Feb. 16, GNA – The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has presented a policy brief document on “Unlocking Northern Ghana’s Agricultural Potential through Targeted Investment in small Reservoirs” to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in Accra.
The brief highlights the key findings and recommendations from research work carried out by the PFAG as part of the activities under the “Sustainable Employment through Agribusiness (Agribiz) program funded by GIZ.
The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) received the policy brief on behalf of MOFA.
Dr Joan Akandi Atule, the Co-Researcher, presenting the findings at a National Stakeholders Dialogue in Accra, highlighted the importance of reservoirs in ensuring food security and reducing poverty.
The reservoirs are unable to fulfil their full potential because they are either ill engineered or defective.
She said to ensure accountability and value for money, there was the need for proper stakeholder involvement and community participation for the dams’ success and sustainability.
“Moreover, there is the need for timely correction of defects in reservoirs to avoid further deterioration,” she added.
Examining the approaches used in the construction of dams under the One Village One Dam Policy, the research work focused on the construction of the Vunania and Gia Dams in the Kassena Nankana Municipal in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
She said in undertaking field visits and interacting with community residents, engineers and officials of GIDA and other key stakeholders, it was obvious that the Vunania Dam, which was funded through a World Bank support was somewhat functional and useful as compared to the Gia Dug out, which was fully funded by the government, though both suffered from structural defects.
She said concerning the Vunania dam, the inadequate knowledge of community members regarding technicalities involved in siting and construction, low supervision from GIDA as well as inability of contractor to pay attention to critical areas in dam construction contributed to some of the defects of the dam.
For the Gia dam, the government’s decision to use a private consultant, the non-involvement of relevant stakeholders, including GIDA, MOFA and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the absence of a mechanism to ensure strong adherence to protocols and requirements for the construction of dams accounted for the poor construction of the dam.
She urged government to re-engineer some of the dams under the One Village One Dam, correct serious defects in community dams such as the Vunania dam, create a national mechanism to coordinate policy efforts toward strong adherence to requirements for the construction and management of community dams.
The Research said community engagement should be incorporated during dam construction, undertake compulsory post-construction analysis and evaluation and the employment of Labour-Intensive Public Works for engineering of the dams.
Mr. Wepia Addo Awulgwa, the National President of PFAG called for the government, as a matter of urgency, to pay attention to investment in irrigation facilities across the country and reconstruct the existing dams properly and make them fit for purpose.
Dr Charles Nyaaba, the Executive Director of PFAG expressed concerns about the neglect of State-mandated institutions such as GIDA and the Municipal Assemblies during the construction of the dams under the One Village One Dam Policy and called for a review of these arrangements.
Mr Prince Senoo, Senior Manager at GIDA, receiving the document on behalf of the Minister, promised to submit the findings to the Minister and assured farmers that work would be undertaken on the defects identified in the dams.
GNA