Dr. Jemimah Yakah has expressed the need for Ghanaian Universities to start running agricultural programmes tailored towards equipping farmers on irrigation technologies.
Although agriculture plays a vital role in the national economy, very little, by way action, has been done to improve the sector. Farming in Ghana is largely dependent on natural rainfall. But the unreliability of the rainfall pattern has made rain fed agriculture increasingly difficult for farmers, especially farmers in the Northern sector of the country.
Speaking at the launch of Water for Rural Africa, Dr. Yakah said that development and management of irrigation however has been characterized by difficulties, notably, weak database, excessive cost, environmental problems and extreme negativity in some quarters.
“It is imagined that irrigation will be seen in its right perspective as a multidisciplinary activity to ensure the success of schemes. There is the need for running a postgraduate programme in irrigation at the university to enhance the nation’s efforts at developing and managing irrigation projects successfully, said D. Jemima Yakah.
The Minister for Sanitation and Water resources, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda who also spoke at the Launch gave an assurance of government’s commitment to resolving the irrigation challenges.
According to the Minister, government aims at putting irrigation development and management into its proper past contemporary perspective and devise policies to ensure a general improvement in the water situation in the country.
