World Vision Ghana Promotes Drip Irrigation

 

LIFE-TOUCHING projects executed by World Vision Ghana within the Bolgatanga Operations Base have received commendations from a team of five donors of World Vision from the United States of America.

World Vision Ghana through its donors and sponsors over the years has provided several thousands of projects in different areas of the country including about 1,700 boreholes in the Northern, Upper East and West regions. Some of these boreholes are mechanized and used for multipurpose activities including irrigation.

In order to find out how their efforts were impacting positively on the lives of children and their families in the beneficiary communities, a team of five donors from the USA visited some projects in different communities of the Upper East Region.

At Gurugu and Dua communities in the Bongo District, the team was impressed with the level of hard work at the drip irrigation sites where the farmers were busily working on their respective portions of the farmlands.

The Bolgatanga Operations Base Team Leader, World Vision Ghana, Madam Benedicta Pealore, said Bongo Area Development Programme started in 1996 and phased out in 2011.

But before it was phased out, the programme identified projects that were sustainable. Among them were drip irrigation fields established at Dua and Gurugu. At Bongo-Soe community, a sheanut processing plant was also established mainly to support women generate income to take care of their families and especially their children’s education..

At Gurugu drip irrigation site, 80 farmers, 40 women and 40 men are benefiting from the fenced farmland. At the Dua site, 40 farmers made up of 20 women and 20 men are also benefiting from the irrigation project.

They cultivate all sorts of vegetables including tomatoes, pepper and onions. They also cultivate rice. At Zingadoone in the Kassena-Nankana East District, World Vision is drilling a borehole for the community at the cost of $12 000 dollars.

A fund raiser and sponsor of World Vision projects in the USA, Rev. Harry Thomas of Creation Festival, and team leader, Jessica Ohlsen, were impressed with the work done so far and pledged their commitment to raise more funds to extend their support to many more communities in the region.

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