The Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) is urging the Minister of Finance to prioritize renewable energy for agricultural-led transformation of Northern Ghana in the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policies of the Government.
It is common knowledge that the impacts of climate change on livelihoods are much more felt in the northern part of the country as the area with over 8 million hectares of arable land experiences, on the average, only 3 months of erratic rainfall and 9 months of dry season in a year. This certainly poses a serious threat to sustainable livelihoods of the over 80% of the people whose main source of livelihood is rain-fed agriculture.
Recognizing and acknowledging the fact that the vast area of land and high temperatures in Northern Ghana show huge potentials and present good opportunities for renewable energy development such as hydro and solar for agricultural activities in the long dry season, NORPRA is of the strong view that increasing public investment in renewable energy projects for agricultural-led transformation of climate-impacted Northern Ghana is the best policy option that would yield high returns on investment, improve food security and reduce poverty and hunger for the achievement of the sustainable development goals and the Africa Agenda 2063.
The Finance Ministry’s consideration of this request will not only be applauded as a decisive action to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the Ghanaian people, but it will also be viewed as a practical demonstration of government’s commitment to the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement that requires an investment of over US$ 6 million to build resilience and promote livelihood opportunities for the youth and women in climate-vulnerable agriculture landscapes and food systems to achieve renewable energy penetration by 10% by 2030.
The prioritization of renewable energy in the 2025 Budget will equally breathe life into the Renewable Energy Act, 2011, (Act 832), the National Energy Transition Framework and the NDC manifestoes to increase public investment in renewable energy sources to diversify the energy mix and reduce reliance on fossil fuels for diversification of the country’s energy mix through building and completing large scale strategic irrigation schemes such as the Tamne Irrigation, Vea Irrigation, Pwalugu Irrigation and Bui Irrigation Schemes.
It is regrettable, that the One Village, One Dam (1V1D) Policy which had noble policy objectives of increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security and improving livelihoods of Ghanaians failed woefully, NORPRA therefore urges the Mahama-led government to be guided by those policy failures and get things right through this proposed Renewable Energy for Agric program in the north for even and balanced development of the country as required by the 1992 Constitution
Bismark Adongo Ayorogo
(Executive Director)
0209313630/0246067564
[email protected]
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