By Elorm Yao Aryee
Hectors of vegetable farms at Tadzewu in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region were ravaged by the Saturday dawn rainstorm. Several properties and hectares of crops were destroyed by the storm and ensuing flooding that swept parts of the plantation.
Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited Farms is one of the largest vegetable producers in the country and occupies several hectares of land at Tadzewu in the Ketu North Municipality. The company has over 200 employees on its payroll. The roofs of properties on the plantation, including warehouses, offices, and farm houses for workers, were ripped off by the early Saturday rainstorm.
Over 30 greenhouses, which provide shelter for various vegetables, were demolished. Several hectares of okro, tomatoes, pepper, and other food crops were also destroyed. The cost of the destruction is estimated at millions of cedis.
The Agortor River, which flows through the plantation, and is used for irrigation on the farms, also serves as a major source of water for some residents of communities in the Ketu North Municipality. Following the downpour, the Agortor River overflowed its banks.
Management at Maphlix Farms said it has made several appeals to the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority to dredge the river, but no action has been taken. The Chief Executive of the company, Dr Felix Kamassah, noted that insurance companies in the country are unwilling to insure farms as part of their services, and this is a source of worry for most plantation farmers.
Dr Kamassah, who is also the President of the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana, said the level of devastation required adequate capital ingestion to fix.
He therefore appealed to government and corporate bodies for assistance to get the company back on its feet.
The Ketu North Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Anthony Avorgbedor, who visited the farm to assess the situation with officials of NADMO, gave the assurance that he would send a report to the appropriate quarters for intervention.
Residents of Tadzewu and its adjourning communities have, in the past, raised concerns about the perennial overflow of the Agortor River and its associated disasters during rainy seasons.
An opinion leader at Tadzewu-Daleme, Daniel Zoyeku, told GBCNEWS that they were worried the community might be submerged one day when it rained very heavily. He appealed to the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority to dredge the river to prevent future disasters. The residents also fear a bridge that spans the river on the Dzodze-Akatsi highway will collapse if the current situation is not fixed.
