Bolgatanga, April 4, GNA - Agricultural scientists and farmers in the Upper East Region on Friday appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to support farmers financially to go into dry season gardening.

They said farmers would need money to buy lift pumps to pump water from the rivers and dug-outs, while those who would find it more suitable to go into drip irrigation, that uses less water, would need money to buy the necessary equipment.

This was their outcome of a two-day workshop on "Irrigation Options in the Changing Environment of the White Volta Basin" during which they deliberated on 20 research findings on soil and water use and conservation in the region.

In their recommendation, the participants reiterated their call on MOFA to make small-scale irrigation a priority in the north as rainfall in the face of erratic and unreliable rainfall pattern.

They held that current irrigation practices in the region were mostly from shallow wells that sometimes dried up at periods that the water is still needed most.

The participants called on the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority and the Departments of Highways and Feeder Roads to collaborate to raise roads across lowlands and also raise culverts and bridges to impound erosion water for small-scale irrigation. In a presentation, Mr Roy Ayariga, Upper East Regional Director, MOFA, noted that crop failure and associated food shortages that result from drought and floods, both of which could occur in a single rainy season had further demonstrated the importance of irrigation. "It is also known that families with access to an irrigated plot are better-off in the rural areas," he said.

Mr Ayariga stated that it was the production of irrigated crops like tomatoes, onion, pepper and watermelon that cushioned the region from the effects of last year's drought and floods.