Bolga MCE starts GH¢ 201, 599.00 SOCO mechanized boreholes

Built at a cost of GH¢ 201,599.00, two mechanized boreholes have been inaugurated and presented to two beneficiary communities in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region. 

Particularly during the dry season, the projects carried out under phase I of the Gulf of Guinea Social Cohesion (SOCO) project would help irrigation farming.   The beneficiary communities were Damwoe and Amogrebisi, both in the Bolgatanga Municipality.
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Speaking at the handover ceremony in Bolgatanga, Mr. Roland Atanga Ayoo, the chief executive for the Bolgatanga Municipality, said the project would be a relief to farmers mostly dependent on rain-fed agriculture for crop production. Mr. Ayoo said that the two mechanized borehole projects, carried out at a total value of GH¢ 201,599.50 (GH¢ 100,799.75 each), would increase agricultural output among the rural farmers and advised the young people to seize the opportunity to improve their lot.  

With an emphasis on modernizing agriculture and helping rural and smallholder farmers to raise their crop yields to feed the local economy, he said the gesture represented a major turning point in the desire of succeeding governments to give agriculture top priority.
 Mr. Ayoo also pointed out that the government was working nonstop to inspire people to enter the field of agriculture.

“I am told that each of the projects is supposed to pump water to serve about 52 hectares. In fact, I am tempted to share the farmers’ agitations to the effect that the project cannot even serve two acres of land, let alone 52 hectares in the beneficiary communities,” Mr. Ayoo fumed.

 Explaining that the borehole projects were meant to provide farmers a boon and stressing their main obstacle of accessing water for dry season farming, which would be ridden out, the MCE advised the technical team to steer clear of similar nasty contracts in the future. In spite of the frustrations, the MCE urged the young people not to be discouraged in exploring agriculture, reaffirming it would not be permanent.

 Mr. Samuel Azure, the assemblyman for the Amogrebisi, an electoral area under Sumbrungu in the Bolgatanga Municipality, told the MCE the community was unhappy with the contractor over the inadequate work and appealed to him to come out with pragmatic solutions to surmount the plight of farmers who were so obsessed with irrigation since the sole mechanized borehole could not even support three farmers.

 Ms. Lantana Osman, the Director of the Department of Agriculture at Bolgatanga Municipal, also said that her outfit had learned its lessons and would be extremely cautious to closely watch the implementation of any agriculture-related projects in the municipality in the future.

 She begged the farmers to let sleeping dogs lie, saying, "For we know your plight; we identify with your plight, and we are fighting the same cause. The MCE indicates that better mechanized borehole projects will find their way here, as reported by France Dabre Dabang of the Ghanaian Times.