Cabinet approves new irrigation policy

03-11-08
Page 31

CABINET has approved an irrigation policy that seeks to provide strategies and appropriate regulatory framework for irrigation development and expansion in the country.
The policy also seeks to make the operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes more participatory through the involvement of farmers in all aspects of management at all levels.
“The policy takes into account the aspirations of existing and potential irrigation practitioners in both the private and public sectors,” the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, said in a address read on his behalf at the opening of a sensitisation workshop on the feasibility study of the Accra Plains Irrigation Project.
The feasibility study, which is being conducted by STUDI International, an engineering consultancy firm, is expected to identify 200,000 hectares after which the zoning process of the area would identify 5,000 hectares as priority for irrigation development.
Mr Debrah announced that a national inventory of dams and dugouts had been compiled by the government, and in addition to the database and assessment of potential of existing dams and dugouts, the inventory would also facilitate the development of a national irrigation master plan that would guide irrigation development in the country.
In June this year, he said, the government gave the green light for the start of rehabilitation on the Tono Irrigation Project, saying that the GH¢8 million project, which would be completed in December this year, was well known for the production of tomatoes and rice.
He said crops to be cultivated on the Accra Irrigation Plains included banana, soyabean, rice, pineapple, mango, maize, groundnut and cowpea, adding that “this project will increase agricultural production and contribute to the satisfaction of the growing domestic demand for food and raw materials for agro-based industries”.
Mr Debrah indicated that the ministry had set a target of having about 50,000 hectares under irrigation by 2010, and that under the project the government would ensure the completion of all on-going projects on schedule.
“The interrelationship between proper water control and its management on one hand and food security and poverty reduction on the other is so obvious. Ghana will realise the extent and full potential of irrigation development for enhancing food security and poverty reduction through judicious exploitation of the water resources of the country,” he emphasised.
Mr Boujemaa Remili, a representative of STUDI International, said conducting the project was a real challenge, since the group had to measure the real potential of the area taking into account the multiple characteristics of soil, rainfall slope, as well as underground water quality and quantity.
The current step of the study, he said, dealt with the zoning of the Accra Plains Irrigation Project.
A consultant, Mr Nelson Offei Osae, who chaired the function, said it was important to know the potential of the Accra Plains so that the government could prepare for its development.