Yameriga (U/E), Aug. 10, GNA - The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Talensi-Nabdam, Mr. Sebastian Bisnab, on Thursday urged residents of the area to move away from over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture and embrace dry season farming.

Mr. Bisnab said this during the handing over of a rehabilitated dam at Yameriga near Tongo.

He said the government was determination to invest in small-scale dams for irrigation because traditional rain-fed agriculture could no longer be relied on for sustainable food production in the region. Mr Bisnab urged the local Water Users Association (WUA) and the entire community to take proper care of the dam and to make maximum use of the water, especially during the dry season, to stem the exodus of young persons from the area to other parts of the country.

Mr. Jawad Abdul-Rakeeb, an engineer from the Regional office of the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), said the Yameriga Dam was one of eight such facilities rehabilitated recently under the second phase of the Upper East Land Conservation and Smallholder Rehabilitation

Mr. Abdul-Rakeeb said the dam had a length of 320 meters with 13 lateral canals and was capable of irrigating about 12 hectares of land at a time.

He commended the contractor, Messrs Abdul-HIC Construction Company Limited, for doing a good job and particularly for being able to mobilise his own funds to complete the project.

Other contractors working on similar projects in the region have suspended work due to poor flow of funds from sponsors of the project. The Managing Director of Abdul-HIC Construction Company, Mr. Abdul-Hamid Issahaku, appealed to the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to ensure the immediate payment of monies due his Company which were locked up for the past 10 months.

The contractor also thanked members of the local community for their co-operation during the period he worked there. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana jointly sponsored the rehabilitation of the dam.