Dry season farmers in and around the Vea Irrigation Dam risk losing a good portion of their investment. The farmers say their crops are dying because the Irrigation Company of Upper Regions (ICOUR) has shut down the right bank of the dam.
When the farmers spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, they were livid and explained that ICOUR failed to inform them adequately of their intentions to shut down water supply, particularly at this time.
While they explained that they picked up hints that the parts of the dam were going to be closed off to allow the rehabilitation work to begin, once the rehabilitation had not begun, it would have been fair for ICOUR to allow the farmers to finish farming their short duration crops like peppers and tomatoes.
It would be recalled that in a previous interview on the same platform, the Assemblyman for the Vea Electoral Area shared the same concerns.
“Recently, I called the ICOUR manager to find out what is happening, and what he told me was that they would no longer give the farmers water, [explaining that] the contractor reached him and [said he, the contractor] was coming. So they’ve stopped giving us the water. For about 2 weeks now, our crops have been dying. We are no longer getting the water to the farms, and the contractor is also not on site, so we do not know what is happening,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Farm Services Manager at ICOUR, Charles Aboyela has denied the claims made against his office. He explained that the farmers were adequately informed.
“That was very clear to the farmers. As early as November or December, we told them that the rehabilitation is possibly coming and the right bank would be shut down so water would not flow on the right bank. They are aware. They were duly informed. Anyone who is taking water from Vea and says he has not been informed, it is not true. We have periodically updated them with that.”
“Nobody can say that he is not aware that the right bank is shut. There is no farming on the right bank. Just one or two [farmers are there.] We told them. It is the left bank that is working and the water is flowing very well. We even advised farmers who would want to farm to go to the left bank,” he said.
At this point, Mr. Aboyela suggests that ICOUR cannot do anything to help the farmers.
“What do we do? Do we stop the rehabilitation and give them water? Is that what they want? The farmers are a larger group. Just a few of them wanting water is not what we should do,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
