The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) has disclosed that it currently costs about $40,000 to develop an irrigation scheme for a hectare of farmland. Acting CEO of GIDA, Ing. Richard Oppong-Boateng, told the host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, on Citi FM that exploring and rigorously developing irrigation schemes are a better option to mitigate the threatening drought that has hit parts of northern Ghana.
Farmers in the five northern regions are currently bemoaning the impact of the ongoing drought, which has been exacerbated by over two months of no rain. Ing. Oppong-Boateng explained that the current land area that has been irrigated is woefully inadequate compared with the total of 1.9 hectares of irrigable land.
He further disclosed that GIDA is currently undertaking other initiatives in an attempt to increase Ghana’s irrigable land space. “Per the decree, we are supposed to identify water resources in the country that are suitable for irrigation and we have done close to 19,000 hectares of irrigable land. We have 1.9 million hectares but if you add the private irrigation farms, now, we have done about 220,000 hectares which is a little of 12 percent of our potential of 1.9 million hectares.
“Since last year, there has been upscaling and as I speak now, we are rehabilitating some irrigation schemes and if you put all that we are doing this year, we are doing close to 5,000 hectares so if we keep up with this momentum, I am sure that we will be able to do about 700,000 hectares in the next 5 to 10 years.” “It costs about $40,000 to irrigate a hectare of farmland,” Ing. Oppong-Boateng further stressed.
By: Kabah Atawoge
