Kpong Left Bank Irrigation Project To Be Revived

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut sod for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the Kpong Left Bank Irrigation Project (KLBIP) at Torgome in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.

The project is expected to increase irrigable land by 1,500 hectares to benefit 17 communities and some 6000 people; and increase farm employment to about 400,000 man days per year.

The President said a variety of crops including maize, rice, soya, peas, pepper, cabbage and watermelon have been selected for large scale cultivation and government is committed to making the area an agro processing hub.

He said a little over ten per cent of the 1.9 million hectare of potential irrigable land has been being utilised and noted that effective water and land management could transform agriculture in the country.

President Akufo Addo said an irrigation scheme management body would be constituted under the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority who would work with Water User Associations to manage the land and maintain the scheme.

The USD 25,503,296 project is being executed by M/S OM Metals SPMC, and would expand the gravity-fed area from 450 to 2,000 hectares, and feed an additional 1,000 hectares outside that.

It forms part of a 2012 World Bank support package which provided USD 100 million to the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) to help smallholder farmers secure reliable water access, land, finance, farm inputs and markets.

A 50 million USD facility was approved by the Bank in May 2018 for the rehabilitation and modernisation of three major irrigation schemes in the country; the Kpong Left Bank, Kpong Irrigation, and the Tono Irrigation schemes.

Dr Beatrix Allah-Mensah, Acting Country Manager, World Bank, said the project has suffered "implementation challenges" in the past, and that the Bank is optimistic that government's commitment to the project would ensure success.

She said the target is to achieve a total of about 8,000 hectares of irrigable area from the three schemes and all would be modernised to ensure efficient utilisation of water.

Dr Allah-Mensah expressed hope that the irrigation project would help cut down on the country's estimated USD 2 billion food import bill through the increased production of staple crops.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Food and Agriculture, said the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project would be expanded to some 150,000 hectares in the savannah zones within the northern parts of the country.

Togbe Asamoah Nkwanta, Paramount Chief of Togorme Traditional Area, said the project presented a "big opportunity" for locals in the area to venture into large scale farming.

He said it had already attracted scores of multinational commercial farmers and companies, as well as over 15 farmer-based organisations, creating jobs for hundreds of locals.

Togbe Nkwanta said the project has also connected communities in the area to the national electricity grid, provided roads and potable water.