2025 budget: Government urged to prioritise renewable energy for agric-led economy

By Anthony Adongo Apubeo

Bolgatanga, Mar 11, GNA – The Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) has urged the government to as matter of significance, prioritise renewable energy in its 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policies

In a statement, signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga by Mr Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, the Executive Director of NORPRA, it underscored the need to focus on renewable energy for the agricultural sector to transform the country, particularly Northern Ghana and urged the Minister of Finance to make it a priority.

“It is common knowledge that the impacts of climate change on livelihoods are much more felt in the northern part of the country as the area with over 8 million hectares of arable land experiences, on the average, only three months of erratic rainfall and nine months of dry season in a year.

“This certainly poses a serious threat to sustainable livelihoods of the over 80 percent of the people whose main source of livelihood is rain-fed agriculture”, it said.

The statement recognised and acknowledged the fact that the vast area of land and high temperatures in Northern Ghana showed huge potentials and presented good opportunities for renewable energy development such as hydro and solar for agricultural activities in the long dry season.

“NORPRA is of the strong view that increasing public investment in renewable energy projects for agricultural-led transformation of climate-impacted Northern Ghana is the best policy option that would yield high returns on investment, improve food security, and reduce poverty and hunger for the achievement of the sustainable development goals and the Africa Agenda 2063.

It said the Finance Ministry’s consideration of this critical sector would be applauded as a decisive action to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the Ghanaian people.

“It will also be viewed as a practical demonstration of government’s commitment to the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement that required an investment of over US$ 6 million to build resilience and promote livelihood opportunities for the youth and women in climate-vulnerable agriculture landscapes and food systems to achieve renewable energy penetration by 10 percent by 2030”, it said.

The statement said prioritization of renewable energy in the 2025 Budget will equally breathe life into the Renewable Energy Act, 2011, (Act 832), the National Energy Transition Framework and the NDC manifestoes to increase public investment in renewable energy sources to diversify the energy mix and reduce reliance on fossil fuels for diversification of the country’s energy mix through building and completing of large scale strategic irrigation schemes such as the Tamne Irrigation, Vea Irrigation, Pwalugu Irrigation and Bui Irrigation Schemes.

“It is regrettable, that the One Village, One Dam (1V1D) policy which had noble policy objectives of increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security and improving livelihoods of Ghanaians failed woefully, NORPRA therefore urges the Mahama-led government to be guided by those policy failures and get things done right through this proposed Renewable Energy for Agric program in the north for even and balanced development of the country as required by the 1992 Constitution”, it warned.

GNA

FAA/KOA