<<Print>>

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has revealed that a total of five hundred and seventy dams (570), and fifteen (15) warehouses are being constructed in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions.

According to President Akufo-Addo, Government is undertaking the construction of these critical infrastructure, especially the three Northern regions, for the enhancement of Ghanaian agriculture, and to create the conditions for all year-round farming.

“It is long overdue and that is why we have committed ourselves to the programme of 1-village-1-dam, so that every part of the northern region of our country will have access to water and irrigation to be able to support farming all year round,” the President said.

That is why, “this year, we are constructing 570 dams in the three northern regions, of which the Builsa area is getting twenty (20) – ten (10) for Builsa North, ten (10) for Builsa South. There are two in Sandema, two in Yaga, two in Chuchuliga, two in Sanyasi, and two in Kandema.”

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Friday, 20th July, 2018, in Sandema, in the Builsa North district, when he interacted with the Chiefs and people of the district, at the end of his 2-day tour of the Upper East Region.

The President told the Sandema Naba, Azaksuk Azantilow, that Government is also establishing 50 warehouses across the country to provide for storage for the output of farmers.

He bemoaned the fact that, for far too long in the country’s history, farm produce rots because of the unavailability of storage facilities.

“At the end of this year, when the fifty (50) warehouses are in place, that is also going to be a thing of the past. Five (5) of these warehouses are going to be constructed in the Upper East Region, of which Sandema will have one,” he added.

In response to a request for tractors by Naba Azaksuk Azantilow, to boost mechanized agriculture in the Builsa North District, President Akufo-Addo revealed that Government has received a $150 million facility from the EXIM Bank of India for the creation of agricultural mechanisation centres, across the length and breadth of our country.

“Parliament is debating that as we talk now, and I am hoping that, by the time Parliament rises on the 27th of July, the loan would have been ratified, and we can get on with establishing these agricultural mechanisation centres which will provide agricultural services for our farmers,” he said.