Business News of Friday, 1 September 2017
Source: citifmonline.com
2017-09-01
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Food and Agriculture
The Food and Agriculture Minister will in the next few days present to cabinet a comprehensive document on how they intend to implement government’s One-Village One-Dam project in the northern part of the country.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto said the implementation will start during the start of the 2017 dry season, which normally begins in November.
“We have a plan in place that we are going to submit, and hopefully, the implementation will start in the coming dry season,” the Minister said to Citi News.
“Isn’t it a shame that because the northern Savannah has only four months of rain, for eight months, the people there are sitting, folding their arms, waiting for God to bring rain when we have all these big rivers crisscrossing the savannah zone.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto said the government was looking to take advantage of these rivers by diverting them to farmlands in need.
“…We have big plans to try and drain some of these rivers and redirect some of these rivers through huge pipes to reach as many farming communities as possible in the northern sector.”
The One-Village-One-Dam policy is one of the Akufo-Addo administration’s flagship programmes aimed at ensuring all year-round agriculture in the three regions of the north, through the construction of irrigation dams in every village in that part of the country.
Under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme in the 2017 budget, GHc94, 446,132 was earmarked for the One-Village-One-Dam policy.
One-Village-One-Dam policy forms part of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s key policy initiatives which are expected to cost over GHc2 billion.
