41 dams and dugouts rehabilitated

Ejura (Ash), Oct.14, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has rehabilitated 41 dams and dugouts breached by the floods that hit the three regions in 2007, Mr Yaw Effah-Baafi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, has said.

In addition, it has completed the Tono Irrigation Dam. Mr Effah-Baafi said with this, farmers in the northern part of the nation are assured of all year round water for farming. He made this known to newsmen after he had inspected a 400-hectare block maize farm at Ejura in the Ejura-Sekyedumase District. It is part of the Youth in Agriculture Programme being implemented by the government on pilot basis.

In all, 4000 hectares (35000 acres) of land had been put under maize, rice, sorghum and Soya bean cultivation under the programme throughout the country.

About 60,000 people have been employed nation-wide under the programme. Mr. Effah-Baafi said the national irrigation policy of the government was improving the operational efficiency of existing and new irrigation schemes to help enhance national food security. The Deputy Minister said feasibility studies on the proposed Afram Plains Irrigation Project are almost complete and this would cover more than 10,000 hectares of farm land, when it becomes operational. Some 794 pumps of various capacities have been ordered to establish irrigation schemes along the main perennial rivers. Additional 83 pumps are being distributed to various communities to promote dry season farming.

Mr Mohammed Issifu Pungabu, Member of Parliament for Ejura-Sekyedumase, welcomed the government's intervention and said this would improve the living standards of the farmers. Mr. George Badu-Yeboah, Ashanti Regional Director of Agriculture, appealed to the farmers to take advantage of the block farm scheme by forming cooperatives so that they could access funds to expand their farms. Ms. Martha Bruckner, The District Chief Executive, said with an average annual output of 38,000 metric tons of maize, the district is ranked among the top producers of the cereal in the country.