Agriculture Policy Consultant, Emmanuel Wullingdool, has called on the government to take concrete steps towards promoting year-round farming in Northern Ghana. Mr. Wullingdool emphasizes the need to harness the region’s abundant underground and aerial water resources, urging the establishment of sustainable water systems to support farmers.
Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of land engineering and irrigation in the region. By making land suitable for irrigation, the government can encourage more young people to engage in year-round farming, reducing migration to the southern part of the country. This would not only improve the livelihoods of farmers but also enhance the overall food security situation in the country.
Speaking on the Day Break Upper East Show with A1 Radio’s Mark Smith, Mr. Wullingdool emphasized the urgency of these measures to enable year-round farming and drive sustainable agricultural practices in the region.
“If we are to improve farming practices, and improve agriculture while ensuring that we are really responding to the needs of the times, we cannot do it without looking at the element of water. As long as we continue to be rainfall dependent, some of the challenges will continue to show up prominently.”
If you look at Ghana, we are doing less than 10 percent in terms of irrigation. Most serious countries that are into agriculture, are doing over 50 percent. Take the northern part of the country, where we basically have one rainfall season, unlike in southern Ghana, where we have two farming seasons. It has started now and peaks around July, August, and September, and by October, the rains are gone. How we are able to position the northern part of the country to allow for, even if not all year round, but to allow farmers to farm at least twice, is a major policy decision the government has to consider,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
