Invest in more irrigation dams to sustain farming

Mr Festus Aaron Langkuu, a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, (MOFA) has called for massive investments in the construction of irrigation dams to ensure year-round farming.

He explained that the traditional way of determining the rainfall patterns no longer effective, therefore, rain-fed agriculture had been adversely affected.

Mr Langkuu, who was speaking with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale, on Tuesday, attributed the low production of staple foods last year to poor rains in the Northern Region.

He said the few dams such as the Golinga and Bontanga in the Region were serving their purpose very well and laying credence to the fact that it was one of the best avenues for farmers in the region to produce staples and vegetables on regular and reliable basis.

Mr Langkuu, therefore, appealed to the Government to prioritise the building of more dams to help in the production adequate food.

Mr Kafui Quashiga, Principal Meteorological Officer at the Ghana Meteorological Agency, (GMA) also told the GNA in an interview that rainfall had reduced drastically because of changes in the climatic conditions which are caused by human activities.

He said statistics compiled by the Agency indicated that there had been a decline below the long-term mean, which was the normal rainfall pattern at the beginning of the year 2000.

“When you compare the rainfall data from 1991 to 2010 for Wa, in the Upper West Region, Tamale in the Northern Region and Navrongo, in the Upper East Region and Krachie in the Volta Region, there is a sharp decline and it is likely the trend may continue,” he said.

“The situation is very scary and the earlier something is done about it the better because it has negative repercussions on our existence as human beings drawing inferences from how ‘hot’ the sunshine is.”

Mr Quashiga also said the major way the issue could be managed was to embark on an aggressive reforestation programme by planting more trees to secure our survival, explaining, “we are emitting more carbon dioxide in the air”**