Irrigating a hectare of farmland costs $40,000 - GIDA claims

The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), hs revealed that it presently costs about $40,000 to establish an irrigation scheme for one hectare of farmland. 

Ing. Richard Oppong-Boateng, Acting CEO of GIDA, told Citi Breakfast Show host Bernard Avle on Citi FM thatexploring and methodically constructing irrigation schemes is a preferable alternative for mitigating the looming drought that has devastated portions of northern Ghana.

Farmers in the five northern regions are currently bemoaning the impact of the prolonged drought, which has been exacerbated by over two months of no rain.

Ing. Oppong-Boateng stated that the current land area that has been irrigated is inadequate compared with the total of 1.9 hectares of irrigable land.

He further disclosed that GIDA is currently undertaking other initiatives in an attempt to increase Ghana’s irrigable land space.

“Per the decree, we are supposed to identify water resources in the country that are suitable for irrigation and we have done close to 19,000 hectares of irrigable land. We have 1.9 million hectares but if you add the private irrigation farms, now, we have done about 220,000 hectares which is a little of 12 percent of our potential of 1.9 million hectares.

“Since last year, there has been upscaling and as I speak now, we are rehabilitating some irrigation schemes and if you put all that we are doing this year, we are doing close to 5,000 hectares so if we keep up with this momentum, I am sure that we will be able to do about 700,000 hectares in the next 5 to 10 years.”

“It costs about $40,000 to irrigate a hectare of farmland,” Ing. Oppong-Boateng further pointed out.

Source: Lead News Online