MINISTRY TO EXPAND LANDS UNDER IRRIGATION (BACK PAGE)

THE Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is to expand agricultural lands under irrigation from 33,000 hectares to 50,000 by 2015, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Kwasi Ahwoi, has announced.
The total agricultural land area is estimated at 13.6 million hectares of which the potential irrigable land area is estimated at 500,000 hectares.
Mr Ahwoi, who announced this at the inauguration of Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) Board of Directors in Accra yesterday, said out of the total 13.6 million hectares of agricultural land only 7.2 million hectares were under cultivation.
He explained that the country was endowed with extensive soils which could be developed to meet the agricultural requirements of the country, but the hostilities of the weather characterised by unreliable and uneven distribution of rain did not favour any systematic and sustainable development of the agricultural potential of the country.
He explained that the development of that vast agricultural land will require factors which included the adoption and expansion of irrigated agriculture as a guarantee against the risk of crop failure due to lack of water.
Mr Ahwoi said the use of irrigation technology in combination with good soil management and choice of appropriate crop types and varieties were the most important factors for sustainable food availability and food security.
He said the country’s experience in irrigation was woefully limited and appeared worsened by the habit of shifting cultivation, a farming system which predominated food production strategies.
He also attributed the limited irrigation experience to high infrastructural costs involved in developing and expanding irrigation facilities in the rural areas of the country.
He said because of the high cost of irrigation facilities, the provision of irrigation infrastructure over the years had been the sole responsibility of the government.
Mr Mallam Seidu, Chairman of the 11-member Board of Directors of GIDA, for his part, said the country was fortunate to have large amounts of water bodies and favourable topography, but it was ranked among the countries with the lowest percentage of irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
The minister said despite those challenges and irrespective of the many fiscal and financial problems limiting the rapid development of irrigation, it was one of the key areas that could play an important role in the realisation of the objectives of food security and poverty reduction in the rural areas.
He said for that reason the government was determined to make irrigation take its rightful place in the agricultural development agenda of the country.
Mr Ahwoi said MoFA, under its Medium Term Sector Plan for 2009-2015, had put irrigation development in its rightful place to play a key role in achieving reduction in rural poverty and overall equitable economic development.
The chairman said there was, therefore, the need to intensify the development of irrigation and in particular to expand production of high value vegetables and fruits to diversify the country’s exports.