Three significant irrigation sites have been redeveloped by the Ghanaian government and the World Bank to accommodate various sorts of crops.
The Kpong Left Bank near Torgome in the North Tongu district of the Volta region is one such location.
To avoid the negative effects of climate change, agricultural enterprises would be protected year-round here, as they would be everywhere else.
Now that the Torgome region has access to a necessary component for crop farming, it resembles the nectar described in the Bible as the land flowing with milk and honey.
A call for prospectors received more responses than it could handle, yet 14 of the agribusinesses were chosen.
The first to start operations on the Kpong Left Bank Irrigation is a French company that is cultivating bananas on approximately one-fifth of the 2,500 hectares of the serviced plots. The additional works had doubled cultivable lands.
The French company, which speedily moved to the site, is aware of the potential. It is set to mark the 20th anniversary of similar operations on irrigated lands on the Kpong Right Bank. Its sole interest is banana farming on a commercial scale for export to Europe. On the left bank, newly planted crop seedlings are expected to gestate in 8 months.
The Cameroonian farm manager, Jean-Marie Tchonang names labour and the painstaking agronomy associated with banana cultivation as the main challenges, but that which stands to be overshadowed by the rush on the produce once they hit the international market.
Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto says, the amount of money sunk in the irrigation project is 34 million dollars, thus stakeholders must attach importance to it through cooperation and participation.
He invited the Traditional ruler (Mankralor), Torgbui Gidi to meet with him for further discussion on how best the local population may be integrated into the project.
French investors, Messrs Benjamin Rich and Olivier Chassang are not looking back on this mission on account of the country’s political stability and fertile lands. It is projected that the new site could offer 600 jobs, adding up to the existing 3,500 on the right bank. 100,000 tons of bananas are expected to be lifted in annual banana exports.
The Banana Exporter guarantees the use of its export terminal at the Tema harbour by other food produce exporters, for good turnaround time and as a cost-cutting measure.
Adding his voice, the Coordinator of the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project, GCAP, Mr Osei Owusu Agyemang said, if what you are seeing and hearing whets your appetite, it is time for you as a Ghanaian to brace up for the opportunity and become worthy partakers. He said agriculture is a very serious venture that requires that significant operators are given prestigious titles on the label “Ghanaian Farmer” as pertains in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and other places. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, he told Ghanaians.
Cameroon and Cote D’Ivoire are the other locations of French Banana farms in Africa.