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Strengthening sustainable agricultural production through improved smallholder irrigation, flood-reduction cropland reclamation, strengthening rain-fed production systems and associated ecosystem services is a key priority of the CGIAR Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) research programme in the Volta Basin. Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) About the topic “Strengthen policy and practice research‘Addressing water challenges is key to transforming livelihoods by increasing production in the SADA region, according to participants at a meeting held on February 16-17, 2016 in Tamale, Ghana.
In his opening speech, Mr. Charles Abugrey, CEO of the South African Development Agency, pointed out that “in order to improve livelihoods and promote economic transformation in northern Ghana, Walter’s Water The watershed and its associated values and ecology must be used in a sustainable manner so as not to endanger communities along the White and Black Volta rivers.”
Former ambassador and current Commissioner for the Upper East Region of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr. Donald Adambre, has called for the study conducted in SADA zone to be incorporated into policies and planning. He noted that the findings of the study, which proposed solutions to challenges in SADA zone, would improve the lives of the people and end the poverty prevalent in the zone.
The unpredictability of rainfall patterns and rainfall amounts in northern Ghana means that farmers need to engage in dry season agriculture to supplement their income. Government-managed irrigation schemes in northern Ghana (Tono, Wea and Botanga) are not operating at full capacity. Many farmers who engage in private irrigation use pumps or buckets to collect water from shallow wells, holes in the ground, rivers or Small reservoirfor vegetable production. Despite the relatively small land area, typically less than half a hectare per person, both men and women who cultivate during the dry season find agriculture lucrative.
Discussions among stakeholders at the conference indicated that dry season farming is not just an option but a necessity if the fate of northern Ghana is to be changed in the face of climate change and drought. Hence, calls were made for improved agricultural water management to enable dry season farming in the region, thus supporting a second crop in addition to the current one per year practiced. Important interventions should include expanding irrigation schemes to make them accessible to more people and strengthening other smallholder irrigation practices driven by individuals or communities.
SADA to benefit from IWMI’s agricultural water management solutions for dry season farming
Read the full article: IWMI
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