Regional News of Tuesday, 3 August 2004

Source: GNA

Floods destroy farms at East Mamprusi District

Bunkpurugu (N/R) Aug. 3, GNA - Floods have destroyed a number of farms and washed away bridges at Bunkpurugu, Kpontoong and Bamong in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region. The floods caused by heavy rains has swept and submerged farms and also sunk wells, which serve as a source of drinking water. A number of affected farmers that spoke to the Ghana News Agency, in an interview, said they had no access to their farms due to over flowing streams and dams.

Some of the farmers expressed regret for investing heavily on fertilizer, grain seed, and ploughing of their farmlands. "I invested over 800,000 cedis on my farm hoping that I was going to get a good yield this year... and now I have nothing left," Mr Peter Langbong, one of the affected farmers complained.

Chamba Miika Kombat, a farmer who usually crosses a stream to his farm, said for the past week, he and his colleagues had been unable to go to their farms because the bridge over the stream had been washed away and the current of the flowing water was too strong for them to swim across. He said he was praying that his farm would not be washed away. The affected farmers appealed to the District Assembly, the National Disaster and Management Organisation and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council to come to their aid.