It has come to light that dams constructed under one of the government’s flagship agricultural programmes, have failed to meet their objectives.
The objective of the 1V1D under the IPEP policy was to provide community-owned and managed small-scale irrigation facilities across the country, especially in northern Ghana, to ensure all year-round farming for improved agricultural productivity, food security, jobs, and reduction in out-migration and the food import bill.
The Budget Statement and Economic Policies of the Government (2017, Parag. 496) stated that the small earth dams under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) seek to enhance food security and reduce the food import bill. The government continued that the 1V1D was to facilitate and promote double cropping by constructing small dams and dugouts (2018 Budget, Parag 394). Additionally, it was stated that 1V1D was an innovative change to bring development to our rural areas, (2019 Budget, Parag.17). Furthermore, the government, in the 2020 Annual Budget Performance of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA), reiterated the point that the 1V1D policy was going to increase productivity and ensure all year-round irrigation of crops for beneficiary communities.
While a number of the dams have been completed, many of them fail to retain water year-round and, as such, are incapable of meeting the set objectives. This is according to research findings, titled “Ghana’s Oil Money on Dried Dams,” was conducted by NORPRA, convener of the Coalition of Northern Ghana CSOs, and funded by the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP).
“The 1V1D projects with 100% completion status in 10 beneficiary communities visited
were drying up, with 6 out of the 10 dams completely dried up. There was no dry season gardening or crop farming at the 10 dam sites visited, making it a challenge not only to the achievement of the policy objectives of increased agricultural productivity, food security, jobs, poverty eradication, reduction in inequality, and reduction in out-migration but also to the ABFA, which also seeks to maximise economic development and address regional inequalities in the country. All 159 participants in the focus group discussions and community score card exercise in 7 beneficiary communities disagreed with 1V1D,” portions of the statement read.
According to the Executive Director of NORPRA, Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, “The report, Ghana’s Oil Money on Dried Dams is a product of One Village, One Dam Expenditure and Performance Tracking project implemented by the Coalition of Northern Ghana Civil Society Organizations led by Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) in 2023 with funding support from the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). The project, with the objective of influencing increased responsiveness, transparency, and accountability in public resource management for effective implementation of pro-poor policies, undertook public expenditure tracking of 285 small earth dams in five regions in northern Ghana. The project also mobilised beneficiary communities of the dams and facilitated the communities’ assessments of these dams through focus group discussions and community score card exercises against the One Village, One Dam (1V1D) policy objectives of improving agricultural productivity, food security, jobs, and reducing in out-migration in poverty-stricken northern Ghana. In tracking the public expenditure of the dams, the Budget Statements and Economic Policies of the Government and the Annual Petroleum Funds Reports for the period 2017 -2021 were reviewed. Data on how much was spent on each of the 285 dams and consultancy fees for the construction of the dams were also sourced from Special Development Initiative in the office of the President of Ghana and the Northern Development Authority. The expenditure tracking exercise shows that a total of Two Hundred and One Million, One Hundred and Thirteen Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventy-Five Ghana Cedis (Ghc 201,113,875.00) of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) of Ghana’s petroleum revenue was spent on the 285 1V1D projects with an average cost per dam being Ghc 670,350.00 across the five regions in northern Ghana. This average cost per dam was found to be more than Ghc250,000.00 being the cost of each dam sighted in contract award letters for construction of the 1V1D projects.”
See full document here: Ghana’s Oil Money on Dried Dams
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
