… It Is Critical To Agriculture Development – Veep Assures
The Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has instructed for the construction works for the government’s one-village, one-dam project to begin as the rainy season has come to an end, adding that the project is all set for commencement.
Dr. Bawumia who disclosed this at an opening ceremony at the regional ministers’ conference in Kumasi on Friday stated that government intends to fulfil its One-Village, One-Dam programme as it will be critical to the development of agriculture in the country.
The Vice President said the country’s agricultural sector is key to national development, added that the sector is an engine of growth which is can move our economy beyond aid when attention is driven towards that area.
He said: “It is therefore fundamental to boost agricultural productivity to achieve sustainable industrial and agribusiness development as a means of wealth and job creation. Consequently, our Government has placed renewed emphasis on the agriculture sector, pumping in much resource into the sector to facilitate rapid integration to global and regional value chains.” he said.
The Vice President further mentioned that the Akufo-Addo-led administration has worked arduously to lay the foundation for rapid development of our dear country by rolling out programmes such as the Digital Property Address system which is aimed at formalising the economy.
Dr. Bawumia again revealed that land title registration will also go digital in addition to the Ghana Card/National ID card in 2018.
“However, all these indicators of economic growth will continue to remain meaningless to our people for as long as they do not reflect in the livelihood of our people who lack basic social infrastructure. The lack of basic infrastructure at the local communities is of significant concern,” the Vice President said.
He said, since independence there have been tremendous efforts by successive governments towards the development of the nation, saying that “Ghana is currently classified as a middle income country based on certain economic indicators, such as the Country’s per capita income, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI) among others.”
He added: “It is against this backdrop that, Government, under the leadership of H.E President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has worked arduously to lay the foundation for rapid development of our dear country. It is the vision of the Akufo-Addo’s government to develop Ghana beyond aid by galvanizing stakeholders, including Regional Ministers, MMDCE’s, coordinating councils among others, to build the required infrastructure that are prerequisites for sustained economic growth and poverty reduction.”
President Akufo-Addo during the 2016 electioneering promised to establish a dam in villages in the three Northern regions of the country to boost agriculture via a well-planned irrigation policy.
He promised to ensure that a robust irrigation policy “one-village-one dam” would make Ghana crop all year round and eventually become a net exporter of most foodstuff.
The government in its 2017 budget earmarked GHC94.5 million for the implementation of the project.