Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has forecasted that there might be a food scarcity in Ghana in 2024.
This comes after communities near the Volta Lake’s bank were inundated due to the lake’s bank being broken by an excessive amount of water entering it.
During a Monday Eyewitness News on Citi FM interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu, Dr. Donkor stated,
“The flooding is so severe, whole communities are under the lake. Health infrastructure, clinics, schools, etc. have all been flooded. And so there is not just the humanitarian end of it; there is also the medical, public health end of it, and the educational end of it. In my constituency, schools have had to shut down because they have been submerged.”
“What exacerbates the situation is that in Pru, Oti, Bono East, Savannah, and Northern, farmlands have also been flooded, so there is a possibility of a serious food inadequacy and food insecurity going forward next year [2024] because farmlands have been flooded and the crops have not survived.”
Dr. Donkor disclosed that the flooding of the communities bordering the lake commenced as early as June and July 2023 but had not been taken seriously due to a lack of media coverage.
He added that the flood victims had so far received only communal aid.
In the Pru East District of the Bono East Region, nine communities have been submerged as a result of the Volta Lake overflow, displacing more than 2,500 residents.
The worst-affected communities include Kobre Nsuano, Pentecost Nsuano, Adiembra, Fanteakura, Tokobikope, Tonka, Agokope, Logakope, and others.
This information was relayed by Fredrick Ndila Ntana, the Pru East District Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), during an interview with Citi News on Monday.
“So far we have about over nine communities which are affected by the floods. These are Fanteakura, Birikente, Tokobikope, Accra Town, Kobre Nsuano, Who Are You, and many others.”
“And so now we have about 2554 people displaced, and these are the breakdowns. The males are 1,302 and the females are 1,252…we have relocated them to the highest grounds,” he stated.
In the meantime, more than 30,000 individuals have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the Akosombo Dam spillage, affecting various communities in the Volta and Eastern regions.
The controlled spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams, initiated by the Volta River Authority (VRA), began on September 15, 2023, in response to a consistent increase in the inflow pattern and water level of the Akosombo reservoir.
As a consequence of the spillage, a large number of residents in areas including South Tongu, North Tongu, Central Tongu, Asuogyaman, and numerous other regions have experienced flooding and property damage.