Completion of irrigation project has increased our production – Dawa Farmers
Accra, Nov. 23, GNA – Farmers in Dawa community in the Ningo Prampram District have expressed satisfaction on the completion of the irrigation project in the area, which has increased their production.
The farmers used to farm during the rainy season but the construction of the Dawa Irrigation Project has resulted in an all year farming in the community.
Mr Samuel Ayeh told the Ghana News Agency that he used to produce seven bags of pepper, okro and tomatoes for the whole season on a two-hectare land, but the presence of the project has led to the increase of his production to five more bags on the crops.
Mr Ayeh said this during a tour to the irrigation project by officials of Oxfam America and Africa Centre for Economic Policy (ACEP), a think-tank, to interact with the farmers on how the facility had impacted on their operations.
The GH¢570,903 project was under the petroleum revenue allocated for rehabilitation under Ghana Irrigation Development Authority of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Madam Victoria Etiamoah, a farmer in the community, said the project had helped improve on their farming activities.
« My sister and I used to produce pepper, and Okro on two plots of land and harvest between three to four bags, but it has now increase because of the dam ».
She said they sell their produce to Ashaiman market and are very optimistic to scale up production.
Madam Etiamoah said sometimes the crops get rotten due to the absence of storage facilities and called on authorities to assist in that direction.
She appealed to government to also construct a walkover in the area because anytime it rains, it causes erosion and spills into their farms.
Madam Fatema Z.Sumar, Vice President of Oxfam America, said their outfit had provided financial support to ACEP to conduct research on effective utilisation of government’s oil revenue projects.
She said it was imperative for them to visit the project and see the level of the project and more importantly how it had improved on the contributions of the local farmers.
On her impression about the visit, Madam Sumar expressed satisfaction with the project saying it has benefited their agricultural activities.
She lauded the effort of the women into farming but expressed concern about the growing gap between the rich and poor.
She said the visit was also to create opportunities for the farmers to voice out their grievances as they are the backbone of every country’s economy.
Mr Ben Boakye, the Executive Director, ACEP, said the project was being monitored by their outfit to ensure that the country’s oil money was used judiciously.
Touching on value for money for the project, Mr Boakye said the facility has been useful to the farmers by enabling them to farm during the off-season period.
He expressed concern about the poor materials used for the project saying a heavy rain could cause serious havoc on the efforts of the farmers.
Oxfam is a global organization working to end the injustice of poverty.
