Rural energy workshop opens

Accra, July 18, GNA - A workshop designed to enhance rural sector energy understanding of key energy sector development issues and improving public information policy is underway in Accra with a call on participants to address the issue of energy and poverty.

Mr Samuel Q. Barnor, Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy, in an address on behalf of the Energy Minister, Mr Joseph Adda, said that poverty could only be eradicated when there was enough energy to power the economy to improve livelihoods of people.

The workshop is also looking at disseminating findings of a discussion paper to a wider audience and to solicit ideas and comments for the stakeholder group including the Energy Foundation, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, civil society groups, Electricity Company of Ghana, Northern Electricity Department and the Energy Commission.

Mr Adda said the workshop was to examine the Ghana Energy Policy, known as Economic and Sector Work, a collaborative initiative of the World Bank, Ghana Government and other stakeholders. It is designed to enhance the understanding of key energy sector development issues.

Mr Adda explained that the scarcity of clean and affordable modern energy was a result of factors and that no one single solution would improve access to or increase the consumption of modern energy in rural areas.

"It is therefore important that all options are examined," Mr Adda said.

Mr Adda noted that it was clear that there was insufficient access to and use of modern energy in rural areas for pumping irrigation water, applying fertilizers and pesticides, cultivation, crop harvesting and crop drying.

He said the current situation had led to a vicious cycle of poor households having low productivity and this in turn resulted in lower productivity.

"This cycle of energy poverty keeps households and regions locked in poverty and therefore unattractive to energy investors. The challenge is to identify interventions that can break the cycle of no-energy-because-of-poverty and poverty-because-of-lack-of-energy." Mr Adda said that solving the problem would require a concerted effort to address all aspects of the rural energy puzzle from institutional arrangements, to developing local resources to financing and building capacity in local energy services.

He said currently government was addressing the issue through the Self-help Electrification Project (SHEP), national kerosene project and the pre-mix fuel programme.

Mr Kofi Agyen-Boateng who represented the World Bank Country Director said energy was a major aspect of Ghana's goal to achieve a middle-income status.

Mr Toshiyuku Hayashi, Director, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said Ghana's energy requirements were at crossroads. 18 July 06