The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana has called on the government to incorporate community engagement in dam construction to ensure positive collaboration from community members.
The Association said it would help in the maintenance of the project and ensure the community owns the dams.
Dr Joan Akandi Atulley, a Co-Researcher, said the government needed to re-engineer the dams under the One Village One Dam (1V1D) Initiative by uniformly excavating the reservoir area to the deepest depth with a gentle slope towards the edge.
Dr Atulley presented research findings on the ‘Assessing the state, impact and sustainability of the Vunania and Gia reservoirs in the Kassena Nankana Municipal of the Upper East Region at the National Stakeholders Dialogue on Irrigation Development in Ghana.
The research was commissioned by PFAG.
As part of the activities, the Association assessed the various stages during the construction of the two Dams and the experience and evidence to proffer solutions for improved irrigatio
n development
It also formed part of the activities under the Sustainable Employment through AgriBusiness (Agribiz) Project in Ghana funded by GIZ.
The Project trajectory is to focus on advocacy to improve irrigation development in Ghana with particular attention to the government’s irrigation programmes through the 1V1D Policy.
She said the authorities needed to correct serious defects in community dams such as the Vunania dam by thoroughly examining the dam wall followed by manually excavating a trench to trace the direction of flow in
‘Create a national coordinating mechanism to coordinate policy efforts toward strong adherence to the requirements for the construction and management of community dams,’ she added.
She said they also had to review and implement water management by-laws making them more biting. It should also include a more effective role for community leadership
The Researcher said there was a need for a compulsory post-construction analysis and evaluation before the handing over of pr
ojects to correct defects.
She said the labour-intensive public works approach should be employed for the re-engineering of dams.
Dr Atulley said this was to ensure that community dams were constructed devoid of any bottlenecks and managed sustainably.
She said there were possible leakages from the ground layers, faulty valves, a high spillage approach and an engineered embankment.
Dr Charles Nyaaba, the Executive Director of PFAG, commended GIZ through their Agri biz project for providing funding for the research and supporting all related activities to ensure there was an improvement in the country’s irrigation infrastructure in the country.
He said agriculture provided an important basis for transforming the Ghanaian economy and anytime the country encountered poor performance with its agriculture, the results were usually reflected in the general economic performance.
He said one specific factor that was a serious threat to the country’s agricultural sector in recent times was climate change, which
could disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality.
He said projected increases in temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, changes in extreme weather events, and reductions in water availability might all result in reduced agricultural productivity.
‘Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health, and it affects the physical environment as well as all aspects of both natural and human systems, including social and economic conditions and the functioning of health systems,’ he added.
Source: Ghana News Agency