Youth and women’s groups in the Northern Ecological Zones have proposed to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to, as a matter of urgency, consider the construction of more dams and dugouts in the zones in its Medium Term Development Plan, which is being developed.
The groups, who made the proposal at separate forums held in the Northern, Upper East, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions in communiqués, stressed that to help ensure the construction of more dams and dugouts in the area, there is the need for SADA to facilitate to ensure that the country develops ‘One Community, One Dam Policy’.
The forums, on the project theme ‘Mainstreaming Inputs of Youth and Women Farmers into SADA Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP)’, was organised by the Coalition of SADA Zone Civil Society Organisations and led by Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) with support from the USAID-Agricultural Policy Support Programme (APSP).
“There is the need for SADA to facilitate to ensure that government and the private sector construct more dams, dugouts, rehabilitate and drain old dams in the Northern Ecological Zone of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority to help harvest rainwater on a grand scale during the rainy season for dry season farming and livestock rearing,” the groups emphasised.
The groups noted that the dams and dug-outs would not only help to harvest rain water for agricultural activities particularly in the dry season, but would also help curb the annual floods that occurred in the area every year during rainy seasons as a result of the spillway of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso.
“If these pragmatic measures are taken, not only will it help harvest water for all-year-round farming, particularly dry season farming, but will also help deal with the perennial floods in the area, as well as help curb the drifting of the youth to the south in search of non-existent jobs,” they stressed.
The groups cited many countries, including China and Brazil, which have relied on rainwater for domestic uses, livestock farming, small-scale irrigation, as well as means of replenishing ground water levels, and said Ghana also has the greater opportunity to do so, taking the potentials of the Northern Ecological Zone into consideration.
Mr Bismark Ayorogo Adongo, the co-ordinator of the SADA-CSOs, explained that the forums were aimed at collating the views, inputs and development priorities of the stakeholders to be mainstreamed into the SADA Medium Term Development Plan and Master Plan due to be finalised by July this year.
He stated that the consultation of the youth on the development of the SADA Medium Term Development Plan and Master Plan was key since they formed the majority of the population and also constituted the largest of the human resource base of the area.
He regretted that SADA in its last development of the Medium Term Development Plan did not involve the youth and women’s groups, and blamed the problem encountered by SADA on that.
Mr Adongo, who commended SADA and the USAID-Agricultural Policy Support Programme for supporting the organization of the forums, stated that involving the youth and the women’s groups across the SADA Zone this time around would help contribute significantly to make SADA interventions more meaningful.
The SADA Medium Term Development Plan is expected to be finalised in July this year and would showcase the activities to be implemented in the subsequent years.
Source: The Finder
