President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday inspected the completed Namoligo Dam in the Talensi Constituency in the Upper East Region.
The Namoligo Dam, one of ten small dams which have been completed by government through the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDAl) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture was constructed under the “One-Village-One-Dam” project in fulfilment of the 2016 manifesto pledge of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to build a dam in every constituency to boost agriculture.
The project, which costs GHS2.5 million, has a water storage capacity of 145,300 cubic meters, and has a minimum dam life of 40 years, will facilitate water access for irrigation in Namoligo and ten other surrounding communities.The President who is on a two-day working visit to the region, was told by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, who accompanied him, that irrigation facility would increase the cropping area for vegetables by some 50 hectares, with optimum yields, since crops would always get the needed water throughout the growth stages.
He urged members of the community to take very good care of the dam, and hoped that the Namoligo community and the other 10 communities, that were beneficiaries of the dams, would use them for their own benefit.
Since 2017, the Government in its bid to fulfil the 1-village-1-dam policy, has constructed a number of small-earth dams for water storage, irrigation, and for use by livestock. This is the largest stock of such small earth dams provided since independence.
Thus far, 439 small-earth dams are under construction, and 375 have been completed, and 64 are between 90-100 percent complete. Each dam provides water for up to five hectares of farmland.
Under the Akufo-Addo Government, the Tono irrigation dam has been rehabilitated as rehabilitation projects on both the left and right banks of Kpong are also in progress.
