<<Print>>

Mr Albert Akuka Allzuuga, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Garu -Tempane in the Upper-East Region, has reiterated Government�s commitment to construct the Tamne and Pwalugu Dams. The Tamne dam would be situated in the Garu -Tempane District, whilst the one at Pwalugu would be in the Talensi District. The DCE who announced this during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on Participatory Planning Scenario (PSP) in Garu-Tempane, gave the assurance that plans were far advanced by government to construct the two dams. He indicated that the dams which would serve multi-purpose functions, would promote food and livestock production , generate hydrogen power, and as well as, harvest rain water to prevent the usually annual flood problems in the region. The workshop organised by Care International in collaboration with the Garu Tempane District Assembly, was to build the capacity of the participants on the effective means of sharing both scientific and indigenous weather forecast for interpretation into useful information for climate resilience and disaster risk reduction. The DCE said the unpredictable nature of rainfall patterns had started creating problems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and was affecting farmers and other land users. Mr Allzuuga noted that �the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, such as heat waves and erratic heavy rainfall, as well as the long-term chronic effects of higher temperatures, are constantly on the increase�. He called on the development partners to support communities which have developed their action plans to deal with the climate variability to overcome the challenges unleashed by hazardous climatic occurrences. He urged the participants to take advantage of adaptation of climate change information seriously, to empower them overcome the challenges during the raining season. He acknowledged the immense contributions of development partners, especially Care International, for the good work they were doing in the district and in the communities. Mr Charles Kweku Yorke, Head of Research at the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) mentioned that GMet was expecting rainfall amounts from April to June as follows: East Coast - 440mm, West Coast - 760mm, Forest Zone - 480mm, Northern - 370mm and that the Upper West Region would also record a 320mm rainfall. �The condition of the onset date of the rainy season is totalling 20 mm in a week with one of the rainfall events of 10mm or more without a dry spell of more than 10 days for the next four weeks�, he explained. He said the rainfall was expected to reduce from June and July in the country this year, and urged farmers in the region to harvest water for use in anticipation of prolonged dry spells in the months of June and July.