Agric Ministry, KOICA launch $6.5m rehabilitation project

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), has launched a $6.5-million project to rehabilitate three irrigation sites.

The project, which was launched on "The rehabilitation of irrigation schemes and improvement of irrigation water management project," has beneficiary sites at Dawhenya and Ashaiman, both in the Greater Accra Region, as well as Aveyime in the Volta Region.

The first component of the project focuses on enhancing irrigation facilities in Aveyime and Ashaiman, upgrading pumps, constructing drying floors, installing solar power systems and increasing reservoir volumes.

The second emphasises sustainability and capacity-building and also seeks to empower water users' association (WUAs) and government officials with knowledge and skills.

It generally seeks to expand agricultural water supply, irrigation area and area of farming as well as achieve an increase in production by crop per area of members of the WUAs.

Additionally, the project will contribute to the development of the agricultural sector by providing machinery and solar facilities, among others.

Launch

Launching the project on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, the Deputy Minister in Charge of Crops, Yaw Frimpong Addo, thanked the government of Korea through the KOICA for the financial support.

He stated that the project broadly aimed at increasing incomes of farmers on public irrigation schemes, particularly, at the three sites.

Mr Addo said the government duly recognised that building resilience of farmers through irrigation was key to freeing the masses from poverty and joblessness in view of the huge potential for food and nutrition security, among others.

He said as part of the government’s commitment to modernise and commercialise agriculture in the second edition of Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ 2.0), there was the need to rehabilitate more irrigation schemes and improve irrigation water management to promote all-year-round farming.

"This project which we are launching currently is, therefore, in sync with government of Ghana’s objective to ensure food security in rice production," the deputy minister, said.

He entreated all stakeholders to work tirelessly for the smooth implementation of the project.

Rationale

Explaining the rationale of the project, the KOICA Ghana Country Director, Dong Hyun Lee, said it was to bolster Ghana's agricultural sector, riding on the two major components.

He added that every aspect of the components had been designed to optimise irrigation water usage and maximise agricultural output, from repairing canals to land development.

KOICA signed the $6.5-million memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MoFA in 2020 and a subsequent MoU with the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) for $2.55 million to rehabilitate the three irrigation schemes.

Mr Lee gave an assurance that KOICA was committed to actively supporting key agricultural strategies of the Ghana government, including PFJ2.0.

KOICA’s support

The Chief Executive of GIDA Richard Oppong-Boateng, who welcomed the stakeholders, commended KOICA for the years of dedication and continuous collaboration with his outfit, which had helped strengthen its operations.

He said GIDA had been the beneficiary of KOICA fellowship programmes through which its engineers, agronomists and the WUAs, “have had the opportunity to pursue comprehensive training both in Korea and Ghana in various areas on irrigation.”

The launch was attended by various stakeholders, including members of the WUA in the catchment sites of the project.