ASHAIMAN IRRIGATION PROJECT UNDER THREAT (Page 14)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko, Tema

LOCAL rice production at the Ashaiman irrigation development project site is under threat because of the rate at which estate developers have encroached on the land meant for the cultivation of rice.
The catchment areas of the dam have been turned into settlements and the encroachers continue to push in, ignoring the dangers of over flooding by the dam during the rainy seasons.
The encroachers have also constructed gutters through which waste water and solid waste are deposited into the reservoir, polluting the water and blocking the normal route of water for irrigation.
The project has a rice milling machine with the capacity of milling a hundred bags of paddy daily.
These were observed during a tour of the irrigation project site at the weekend after a media briefing by the Secretary of the Ashaiman Irrigation Farmers Co-operative Society, Mr Ben Kanati, on the situation on site.
The farmers have, therefore, called on the government to step in to prevent the intruders from destroying the land which was acquired by the government in 1962 for rice cultivation under the management of the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA).
He said the irrigation scheme was initiated 40 years ago with a land area of 155 hectares and was rehabilitated in 1999 by the Japan International Co-operation Agency, in collaboration with the Ghana Government.
Mr Kanati said the farmers also cropped cabbages, lettuce, okro, sweet and hot pepper and maize all-year round.
He noted with concern that the abuse was strictly around the reservoir close to the water front, with the canal and the roads leading to the scheme turned into a refuse dump.
Mr Kanati said the farmers, in collaboration with GIDA, formed a task force to halt the activities of the encroachers but the task force was met with weapons and stones, creating a more fearful situation.
He said the “wire fencing around the dam has been destroyed and the land which belonged to GIDA is fast dwindling”.
Mr Kanati noted that apart from assisting farmers from Afife, Okyereko, Afram Plains and many more to mill their paddy, students from the country’s universities made yearly studies and produced data from the scheme to enhance their studies.
He said there was a research centre attached to the scheme which served 20 GIDA projects in the country.
Mr Kanati said Ashaiman farmers were among those selected to be trained by experts from Japan to ensure food security in Ghana and questioned why the project should be left to be jeopardised.
He appealed to the government to take immediate action against the developers to serve the scheme and its efforts to sustain food security in the country.
The Deputy Director of GIDA at the Ashaiman site, Mr Simon Apio, later in an interview, said the project had a fish hatchery for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which served inland fishing projects.
Mr Apio said the irrigation project was moving away from flood irrigation to drip irrigation as a means of reducing the amount of water used on the project.
He was not happy with the aggression of encroachers who had attacked members of the task force and appealed to the chiefs and elders who hid behind the attacks on the farmers to consider the nation first.
Mr Apio said the IDA had made several moves and reported the incident to the Tema Development Corporation, the police and the Tema Municipal Assembly without success. He said the task force would, however, continue to go round to protect state property, despite the fierce attacks on it.
He said the situation had been reported to the headquarters of GIDA and called on all stakeholders to come to the aid of the scheme to make it realise its objectives.
The President of the Ashaiman Irrigation Farmers Co-operative Society, Mr Jordan Nyarku, said the collapse of the scheme would lead to unemployment.