The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) has disclosed that developing an irrigation scheme for a hectare of farmland comes with an estimated cost of $40,000.
During an interview on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show, GIDA’s Acting CEO, Ing. Richard Oppong-Boateng, emphasized the need to intensify efforts in developing irrigation schemes as a strategic response to the severe drought affecting northern Ghana.
The drought, worsened by over two months of no rainfall, has had a devastating impact on farmers in the five northern regions.
Ing. Oppong-Boateng highlighted that the current extent of irrigated land in the country is far below the potential 1.9 million hectares of irrigable land.
He outlined GIDA’s ongoing initiatives to expand the nation’s irrigable land area.
“Our mandate is to identify suitable water resources for irrigation, and so far, we’ve developed close to 19,000 hectares. Including private irrigation farms, we’ve managed to cover approximately 220,000 hectares, which is slightly over 12 percent of the potential 1.9 million hectares,” he explained.
He further stated that GIDA is actively scaling up its efforts, with plans to rehabilitate existing irrigation schemes. “This year, we are working on nearly 5,000 hectares, and if we maintain this pace, we could potentially increase the irrigated land area to about 700,000 hectares within the next 5 to 10 years,” he added.
Ing. Oppong-Boateng underscored the financial commitment required, reiterating that “the cost of irrigating a hectare of farmland is approximately $40,000.”
“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 stressed.