Floods destroy farms and roads in parts of Bawku West

Torrential rains over the past week in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region have destroyed several farm lands at Yarigu, cutting off link roads to other nearby communities.

Apart from the damage caused to food crops like maize, rice, beans, okra, and groundnuts, the rains washed off portions of the main road and bridges, affecting economic activities.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the community on Sunday to ascertain the extent of damage, it observed that most of the food crops were submerged.

Some farmers, who were seen walking through their submerged farms, visibly worried, were apprehensive of what to even feed their families with.

Madam Hannah Nbawin, a rice and okra farmer, told the GNA in an interview that “I depend on my okro farm at this time to earn a living, now that the water has washed away all the plants, life will be difficult for me and my family. What will we eat this year?”

She said if government did not support them with food items, there would be severe hunger in the area.

Mr Jonas Abugri, another farmer, said apart from the destruction caused on his farm, the rains had washed off link roads to surrounding communities such as Kobori, Timonde in the Bawku West District and Bazua in the Binduri District.

“The water has cut us off from these communities, we can’t cross from here to the other communities except Zebilla Township where we can easily go,” he said.

Mr Abugri said even though they had over the years experienced some flooding in the area, the level of destruction this year was beyond their imagination and appealed to the authorities to go to their aid.

Mr Titus Bukari Asimiga, the Assembly Member, said about 75 per cent of farm lands were submerged and that was a great difficulty because the farmers depended solely on their farms for survival.

He said the only two culverts in the community were washed away and the spillage of the Bagre Dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso made the situation worse.

“If we are not aided, I doubt how we will survive when the dry season sets in,” he said, and appealed to government to provide water pumping machines to enable the farmers to embark on dry season farming.