Farmers in the Upper East Region have appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to speed up rehabilitation work on the Vea Irrigation facility, near Bolgatanga.

The Vea irrigation facility was built in 1966 and has since not been rehabilitated.

The facility was constructed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the River Yaragatanga to store about 16 million cubic metric tonnes of water for the irrigation of 1400 hectares of farmland and 4.5 million litres of potable water per day to the Bolgatanga Township and its surroundings communities.

The farmers made the call on Thursday day at a stakeholders meeting in Bolgatanga organized by the Bongo, Nyariga, Amalzeli Cooperative Farmers Society (BONACOFSO).

According to the farmers, when the facility was in a good state many people in the Region went into the cultivation of rice, tomato and other vegetables during the dry season.

However, its present condition had forced many to abandon farming since almost all the canals and laterals had broken down making it impossible to channel water for irrigation.

“The people from the Vea, Bolga-Nyariga, Bongo-Nyariga, Zaare, Dundubisi, Yikene, Sumbrungu, Gowrie and Nyariga where the facility is situated have this dry season, abandoned their farms and gone to the Southern Sector in search of jobs,” a spokesman said.

The farmers, therefore, stressed the need for MOFA and other partners to rehabilitate the facility to provide employment to those interested in irrigation farming.

Mr Joseph Mahama Salifu, Project Manager of the Vea Irrigation facility, complained about the dilapidated state of the facility, saying many appeals made by farmers and other stakeholders had yielded no meaningful response.

He reiterated the need for MOFA to speed up the rehabilitation of the facility, saying six years ago about 1,500 farmers could use the facility to crop vegetables but at present only 200 people could do so.

Mr Richard Ananga, the Service provider of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge, (BUSAC) explained that the purpose of the meeting was to bring stakeholders from MOFA, the Irrigation Development Authority and the farmers together to view the state of the irrigation facility to advocate for its rehabilitation. The meeting was sponsored by BUSAC.