By Doreen Ampofo
Dams constructed under the one village one dam initiative are to be used for fish production, aside from the main purpose of irrigation. This is under the Resilient Aqua Food systems initiative being implemented by International Water Management Institute.
The initiative will not only ensure food and nutrition security but also deal with Ghana’s fish deficit which cost the country 200 million dollars annually.
Speaking at the launch of the inception workshop for the project, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson, said out of the 560 dams, about 239 are inactive, and this is because some of the areas are not conducive for the construction of the dams.
The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson, said ”to ensure the success of the project, more dams need to be constructed”.
She said with more than 560 dams constructed, about 230 are not functioning.
“For us to achieve this, it will be good that we increase the number of the one village One Dam. Even though we have constructed 560 and currently 321 are very active. One will ask why?. But the explanation is that some of the areas are not conducive for the one village One Dam.
And that is why the other dams could not survive. But I believe if we still increase the numbers we will be able to achieve our aim. If we want to stock the one village one dam with fingerlings we need to collaborate with the Northern Development Authority.”
Ghana has a fish deficit of 771 thousand metric tonnes annually, despite having the needed resources such as favorable climatic conditions, freshwater bodies, large swathes of estuarine, coastal and saline food plains and market for the development of aqua food production.
The Resilient Aquatic Systems Initiative will highlight these opportunities to ensure adequate production of fish to meet demand, increase nutritional value of fish as well as improve the livelihoods of women and youth in the fish value chain.
Ghana is among eleven countries selected globally to benefit from the project. The first phase of the project which will last for three years is selecting sites in Northern Ghana where dams under the One village One Dam projects have been completed. Dr. Olufunke Cofie is Country Representative for International Water Management Institute, which is the implementing Agency. She said many communities are using the Dams for small-scale irrigation however the project is looking at how to combine that with aquaculture.
This will ensure that its not just only crop that the dams are used for because crops grow just for a certain season but fish can grow beyond. “It will ensure that so that all through the year, the water is optimized. It is used for different purposes so they can make maximum the usage of the Water Resources that are available. It will not have any impact on the Dams.”She explained that integrated systems have been used all over the world.
“In Asia there are quite a lot of integrated systems and it’s not actually only fish. In Asia they have aquatic food and there are about three thousand species that we can use for the project.”
The project which is expected to end in 2030 is in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Fisheries Commission, the Institute of Water Research and other relevant agencies.
It is an initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research.
