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Scores of Rice farmers under the Weta Irrigation Project, in the Ketu North Municipality in the Volta Region of Ghana, have their fates in the balance as their rice farms have been covered by water due to flooding.
The victim who continue to count their loses days after the disaster attribute the flooding to poor drainage systems owing to choked canals which have not been dredged for years.
Over 10 thousand hectres of farms have so far been affected in the devastating flood and the affected farmers appeal to government for immediate relief and among other long-term measures dredge the silted canals to avert similar future occurrence.
The farmers who say water stagnates anytime it rains due to malfunctioning drainage system thereby flooding their fields expressed apprehension that the happening of not checked quickly may lead to hunger in the area and called for the release of DRIP machines to dredge the canals to prevent further damage.
An affected farmer, Emmanuel Nibo, says “This year like this, the gate is spoilt so the water cannot drain and the dam too is full so all the farms have submerged because the water has nowhere to go”. Mr. Nibo, added that they do not know whether they will harvest a grain because the dam continue to be full as a result of the gate not functioning.
A young female farmer, Bless Amenyaglo, tells VoiceAfricaonline.com that, “Our problem is water, the water is too much and several farms have already submerged. We need the government’s help to create dams and spill the excess water into them so to save our crops”. Happenings like this also discourage farmers, especially young people who are encouraged to venture into agric.
The mishap to a large extent is a bad news for Ghana at a time successive governments are making frantic efforts to cut down on Rice importation by empowering local producers.
