Mr Kwame Anokye Aidoo, the Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA), has sent an ‘SOS’ to the government and donor agencies for the urgent resourcing of the Agency to save it from total collapse in this era of climate change when its services has become more critical.
He said the operations of the Agency, mandated among other things to monitor and measure rainfall patterns/other climatic conditions to aid agricultural research apart from predicting and providing useful advice per warnings or recommendations to guide policy directives and planning, have been severely crippled by obsolete equipment, disabled vehicles, and staff attrition.
Mr. Aidoo told the GNA in an interview in Koforidua that the efficacy of the his outfit has been grossly undermined when only eight out of the 70 climatological stations situated in the Eastern Region, are functioning due to the superannuation of the Agency’s staff, who have not been replaced.
He said currently many of the staff working in the Region are mostly volunteers and said the Agency’s work would ground to a halt, if new staff are not recruited immediately.
Mr Aidoo hinted that, there would be 10 to 30 percent reduction of rainfall this year as compared to the previous year and entreated farmers to take advantage of the early rains.
“Despite the challenges, however, the Agency still provides essential services to the Aviation, Volta River Authority (VRA), the Agricultural Sector and the Seed Production Unit of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to guide and monitor their operations.
He advised colleges and institutions to use the Meteorological Agency’s fields for excursions to enable them broaden their knowledge about the functions of the organization.
GNA
