IT was all smiles and merry-making by the people of Manguli and surrounding farming communities near Tamale when the only dam in the area which was destroyed by erosion was reconstructed.
“We have every reason to be joyful because our only dam that was nearly destroyed through massive erosion has been reconstructed,” a resident, Abu Iddi, indicated with a wide grin.
The coloured dam water is the only source of potable water for the about 2,000 people and their animals at Manguli and nearby communities.
It is also used for small irrigation farming.
However, in July last year, the people were alarmed when a large portion of the embankment of the dam was washed away as a result of massive erosion thus threatening their livelihoods.
It took the intervention of the chiefs and the assembly member for the Fooshegu Electoral Area, Prince A.A. Mohammed, to get a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), to help rehabilitate the dam.
“We were so desperate, because the dam is our only source of water and livelihood. Although we sent an S.O.S. to a number of organisations to come to our aid and have the dam reconstructed, only the GTZ responded timely and we are very grateful,’’ Mr Mohammed explained.
The deputy project manager of the GTZ, Mr Anthony Dzatse, who spoke to the Daily Graphic during a ceremony at which the rehabilitated dam was handed over to the Manguli community, explained that the gesture was part of the response by the German government to the resettlement of the victims of the 2007 floods that hit northern Ghana.
The intervention by GTZ is under the Dam Rehabilitation Project (DRP) of the Market Oriented Agriculture Programme (MOAP) of the German organisation in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
The GTZ supported the people with equipment, technical know-how and food while the MoFA offered training with the people providing labour within the three months that the rehabilitation lasted.
According to Mr Dzatse, the main reason for the food for work programme was to provide needy people with food to enable them provide communal labour to improve livelihoods and food security in their respective communities.
He further explained that the food rationing programme was under the DRP Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty programme.
“We also build the capacity of small and low income farmers and traders in agriculture, in tool handling to become competitive in the marketplace.
“We also embark on preventive and emergency response measures such as planting of grass on the banks of the dams to bind the soil against erosion,” the officer stated.
The Northern Regional Director of the MoFA, Mr Sylvester Adongo, observed that farming as a means of livelihood had faced some challenges in northern Ghana in recent years, as a result of drought or floods.
He said those factors had culminated in high food insecurity, migration of the youth to the south, high child morbidity and mortality, as well as chronic poverty.
“The government is very much concerned about the poverty and food insecurity in rural farm families and is putting structures in place to alleviate the plight of the poor farmers,” the regional director of agriculture indicated.
Mr Adongo further advised farmers in the area to take advantage of the rehabilitated dam to “produce two or three crops in the year and thereby ensure family food security.”
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