Edward Kareweh, the immediate past General Secretary of the General Agriculture Workers Union, has voiced concerns over the ineffectiveness of the One Village One Dam policy in mitigating severe drought conditions in Northern Ghana. Despite the government’s efforts to address water shortages in the region through this initiative, the area continues to face significant challenges.
The former GAWU Boss emphasized that the One Village One Dam initiative has been a failure, with resources wasted and no tangible benefits to show for the investment. He revealed that approximately 150 million cedis have been spent on the project, but the results have been disappointing.
Mr. Kareweh pointed out that the ongoing drought in the Northern Region is primarily due to climatic conditions—an act of nature that cannot be fully controlled by human intervention. While drought is a global issue, he noted that other countries have implemented systems to mitigate its impact, particularly in agriculture, which remains heavily dependent on rainfall in Ghana.
Ghana’s government introduced the One Village One Dam project with the aim of constructing dams in villages to provide water for irrigation during dry seasons. The concept was intended to help farmers maintain crop production during periods of low rainfall. However, Mr. Kareweh criticized the policy’s implementation, stating, “Many of these so-called dams either do not hold enough water or, in some cases, are non-existent.”
Despite significant government spending on these projects, there has been little evidence of the dams being utilized effectively to irrigate crops. As a result, the policy has not succeeded in mitigating the drought’s effects in the region.
Mr. Kareweh called for more proactive measures to address drought in Ghana. “The way forward is not just to end drought, as it may not be entirely possible, but to adapt to it by adopting a culture of irrigation and other mitigation measures more diligently,” he said. “We must work harder to ensure that we do better in future events.”
The drought has compelled government to place a ban on the export of grains from Ghana while allocating some GH¢8 billion to combat its impact on the affected communities.
