Farmers count losses caused by Black Volta overflow

Matthew Siwuo, a 30-year-old farmer from Dikpe, a community in the Lawra Municipality has expressed worry as to how to feed his family until the next planting season after floods destroyed his entire farm.

A visit to Mr Siwuo’s farm by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) showed that he had lost the entire one and half hectares of maize and guinea corn farms due to the overflow of the Black Volta Dam overflow at Dikpe following days of heavy rains in the municipality.

He told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Dikpe that the destroyed farm was his only source of livelihood, which he relied on to make ends meet saying, “What will I feed my family on? The water has destroyed everything.”

“I usually sell some of the produce from this to take care of our expenses, while I save the rest to feed the family,” he indicated.

Siwuo explained that he and his mother about 50 years old had been left with no hope of survival until the next farming season saying, “The crops were doing so well until they were submerged.”

He indicated that though the community experienced the overflow of the river every year, he had no choice but to farm close to the river as that was the only available land for him to rely on.

Other affected farmers expressed frustration over the loss of their livelihoods.

Mr Ebenezer, another farmer, stated that the incident had placed an additional burden on him as a family person.

“I am not only a farmer but also a carpenter. My family feeds on the proceeds from my farm, while income from my carpentry work covers other expenses.

Now, I will have to use my limited income from the carpentry work to buy foodstuffs, which will be too much of a burden for me,” he explained.

According to Mr Isaac Bobra Dometier, the Assembly Member of the Yikpee-Dikpe Electoral Area, over 40 hectares of farms had been submerged and destroyed, leaving farmers and their families in dire states.

He indicated that he had reported the situation to both the Lawra Municipal Agricultural Directorate and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) for intervention.

Mr Dometier, however, stated that the officials of those two departments expressed their inability to assist due to lack of resources.

“With over 40 hectares of crops destroyed, we urgently need support,” he pleaded.

The incident had not only affected the people’s livelihoods but had also raised significant health concerns in the area.

Madam Nathalia Balorepoore, a nurse at the Dikpe Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compound, indicated that the floods had increased the community’s vulnerability to waterborne and sanitation-related diseases like malaria.

Though she could not mention the exact number of malaria cases recorded at the facility, she said there was a surge in the number of patients currently seeking treatment for malaria at the facility.

“We wish to distribute mosquito nets to help mitigate the surge in malaria cases, but we do not have them in sufficient quantities,” Madam Balorepoore said and appealed for urgent intervention to salvage the situation.