DAMS, dugouts and boreholes play an important role in the life of most communities in the northern parts of the country.
This is partly due to the long period of dry seasons experienced in that part of the country. Out of the 12 calendar months, most communities in the north experience between eight and nine months of dry weather, while the remaining three months are the wet season.
The situation has compelled most of the communities to rely on dams, boreholes and dugouts for survival.
Sadly however, most of the dams are either silted or have their banks broken much to the discomfort of the people who depended on them.
One of such dams in a distressful state, is the Doba Dam located in the Kassena-Nankana East District in the Upper East Region.
The dam which is one of the oldest in the Kassena-Nankana East District, was constructed by the government in the late 1950s to provide water for the community for their domestic animals, construction of houses and other uses.
Farming
The Assembly Member for the Gayingo-Doba electoral area, Mr Clement Nchor stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic that, until the early 1980s, the Doba Dam was solely managed and used by the Ministry of Agriculture to crop tomatoes and rice, among others as part of field demonstration to farmers on modern methods of farming.
He said in addition to that, the fisheries department was equally responsible for harvesting fish from the dam every year.
According to the assembly member, the existence of the dam had impacted positively on the lives of the people in Doba in many ways.
This included the availability of water that made it very easy for the people of the community to get water for their livestock and for the construction of their houses during the dry seasons.
Mr Nchor stated that fishes from the dam also served the protein needs and source of income for a cross section of the people, adding that farmers earned a lot of income, particularly in the dry season from the tomatoes, rice and other leafy vegetables they cultivated.
Some of the people have taken advantage of the availability of water to plant mangoes, guava, oranges and other economic trees as well as pawpaw, cassava and plantain which provided them a lot of revenue, thereby reducing poverty among such families, he said.
In addition, Mr Nchor said the presence of the dam had also created employment for some of the youth in the area who work as farm hands in the gardens belonging to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
He, however, stated that due to siltation over the years, the dam had become very shallow making it to dry up between March and May, every year before the rains set in, in June.
Rainy season
He stated that in 1997, the Irrigation Development Authority tried raising the dam’s embankment as a way of increasing the volume of water in it, but the work was poorly done.
“Due to that, the spillway has become very difficult for people especially schoolchildren. to cross over during the rainy seasons,
“A good driver is required to be able to drive down the steep bank to convey sick persons and pregnant women to hospitals any time such incidences occur,” he stressed.
Mr Nchor said due to the siltation of the dam and the consequent limited amount of water in it, life had not been the same for the people of Doba.
He said between the months of March and May when the quantity of water level was reduced, animals got stuck in the mud in their attempt to drink water from the dam and when that happened in the night, some of them even die.
“In view of that, some of the animals wander far in search of water and are either stolen or go astray. This becomes an economic loss to the owners of such animals”, Mr Nchor said.
He stated that another problem which was very worrying was the fact that the number of dry season tomato and other leafy vegetable farmers in the fenced irrigated field had reduced, adding that even the few who still farmed there, had to compete for the limited quantity of the water in the dam and that could sometimes lead to conflicts among them.
Migration
That problem Mr Nchor said, had compelled many of the youth in the area to migrate to the southern part of the country in search of non-existing jobs.
The assembly member emphasised that a more serious phenomenon was that because a large area of the extreme end of the dam remained dry the land owners now cultivate rice directly in the dam thereby further aggravating the bad situation.
“Such farmers feel there is no need to allow that fertile land go waste, hence their decisions”.
Mr Nchor said another worrying spectacle of the drying up of the dam was that some of the land owners had allowed contractors to win graves on some of the dried up portions of the dam.
The loose soil was subsequently carried into the dam, worsening the already bad situation. Even though the chief and the assembly members prevailed on those land owners to put a stop to such unhealthy practices, it is sad to note that the practice still persistes.
Water
It has become very difficult for some people to have access to water for the purpose of building or reconstructing their houses due to limited quantity of water in the dam between February and May every year.
The people now rely on the few boreholes and that have put more pressure on those facilities in the community leading to their frequent break-down.
The least said about fish stocks the better.
To Mr Nchor, the way forward is to desilt the dam to increase its volume of water to enable it to serve the varied needs of the people of Doba.
He said although an appeal had gone to the Kassena-Nankana East District Assembly, the house was constrained financially to carry out the project.
That notwithstanding, he reiterated his passionate appeal to the assembly, the Regional Minister and the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to come to the aid of the people.
“We the people of Doba have the confidence in the current government’s social policies towards alleviating poverty, especially in northern Ghana, mentioning in particular, the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA)”, the assembly member said.
Appeal
He also appealed to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo Central, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda to put the state of the Doba Dam on his developmental agenda by going to the aid of the people.
“The chief and people of Doba shall forever remain grateful to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and other past governments for the many developmental interventions in Doba. When the dam problem is solved, it will go a long way to reduce poverty in the village”, he said.
While appealing for support to save the dam, he also called on the entire people of Doba to cooperate with him and the chief of the area to save the only dam in the community from drying up completely.
“The strongest appeal is to the people who farm close to the dam and the base of the banks or allow contractors to win graves there to put an immediate stop to the bad practice to save it from collapse.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that this great asset is maintained to demonstrate to the government that we care for our own welfare and are prepared to continue to take care of any public property to convince it to respond favourably to our request to desilt the dam”, the assembly member said.
Already the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo has stated that a number of dams in the region have been earmarked for rehabilitation.
It is, therefore, the prayer of the people of Doba that their dam would be included in the package to bring relief to them.
This is partly due to the long period of dry seasons experienced in that part of the country. Out of the 12 calendar months, most communities in the north experience between eight and nine months of dry weather, while the remaining three months are the wet season.
The situation has compelled most of the communities to rely on dams, boreholes and dugouts for survival.
Sadly however, most of the dams are either silted or have their banks broken much to the discomfort of the people who depended on them.
One of such dams in a distressful state, is the Doba Dam located in the Kassena-Nankana East District in the Upper East Region.
The dam which is one of the oldest in the Kassena-Nankana East District, was constructed by the government in the late 1950s to provide water for the community for their domestic animals, construction of houses and other uses.
Farming
The Assembly Member for the Gayingo-Doba electoral area, Mr Clement Nchor stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic that, until the early 1980s, the Doba Dam was solely managed and used by the Ministry of Agriculture to crop tomatoes and rice, among others as part of field demonstration to farmers on modern methods of farming.
He said in addition to that, the fisheries department was equally responsible for harvesting fish from the dam every year.
According to the assembly member, the existence of the dam had impacted positively on the lives of the people in Doba in many ways.
This included the availability of water that made it very easy for the people of the community to get water for their livestock and for the construction of their houses during the dry seasons.
Mr Nchor stated that fishes from the dam also served the protein needs and source of income for a cross section of the people, adding that farmers earned a lot of income, particularly in the dry season from the tomatoes, rice and other leafy vegetables they cultivated.
Some of the people have taken advantage of the availability of water to plant mangoes, guava, oranges and other economic trees as well as pawpaw, cassava and plantain which provided them a lot of revenue, thereby reducing poverty among such families, he said.
In addition, Mr Nchor said the presence of the dam had also created employment for some of the youth in the area who work as farm hands in the gardens belonging to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
He, however, stated that due to siltation over the years, the dam had become very shallow making it to dry up between March and May, every year before the rains set in, in June.
Rainy season
He stated that in 1997, the Irrigation Development Authority tried raising the dam’s embankment as a way of increasing the volume of water in it, but the work was poorly done.
“Due to that, the spillway has become very difficult for people especially schoolchildren. to cross over during the rainy seasons,
“A good driver is required to be able to drive down the steep bank to convey sick persons and pregnant women to hospitals any time such incidences occur,” he stressed.
Mr Nchor said due to the siltation of the dam and the consequent limited amount of water in it, life had not been the same for the people of Doba.
He said between the months of March and May when the quantity of water level was reduced, animals got stuck in the mud in their attempt to drink water from the dam and when that happened in the night, some of them even die.
“In view of that, some of the animals wander far in search of water and are either stolen or go astray. This becomes an economic loss to the owners of such animals”, Mr Nchor said.
He stated that another problem which was very worrying was the fact that the number of dry season tomato and other leafy vegetable farmers in the fenced irrigated field had reduced, adding that even the few who still farmed there, had to compete for the limited quantity of the water in the dam and that could sometimes lead to conflicts among them.
Migration
That problem Mr Nchor said, had compelled many of the youth in the area to migrate to the southern part of the country in search of non-existing jobs.
The assembly member emphasised that a more serious phenomenon was that because a large area of the extreme end of the dam remained dry the land owners now cultivate rice directly in the dam thereby further aggravating the bad situation.
“Such farmers feel there is no need to allow that fertile land go waste, hence their decisions”.
Mr Nchor said another worrying spectacle of the drying up of the dam was that some of the land owners had allowed contractors to win graves on some of the dried up portions of the dam.
The loose soil was subsequently carried into the dam, worsening the already bad situation. Even though the chief and the assembly members prevailed on those land owners to put a stop to such unhealthy practices, it is sad to note that the practice still persistes.
Water
It has become very difficult for some people to have access to water for the purpose of building or reconstructing their houses due to limited quantity of water in the dam between February and May every year.
The people now rely on the few boreholes and that have put more pressure on those facilities in the community leading to their frequent break-down.
The least said about fish stocks the better.
To Mr Nchor, the way forward is to desilt the dam to increase its volume of water to enable it to serve the varied needs of the people of Doba.
He said although an appeal had gone to the Kassena-Nankana East District Assembly, the house was constrained financially to carry out the project.
That notwithstanding, he reiterated his passionate appeal to the assembly, the Regional Minister and the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to come to the aid of the people.
“We the people of Doba have the confidence in the current government’s social policies towards alleviating poverty, especially in northern Ghana, mentioning in particular, the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA)”, the assembly member said.
Appeal
He also appealed to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo Central, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda to put the state of the Doba Dam on his developmental agenda by going to the aid of the people.
“The chief and people of Doba shall forever remain grateful to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and other past governments for the many developmental interventions in Doba. When the dam problem is solved, it will go a long way to reduce poverty in the village”, he said.
While appealing for support to save the dam, he also called on the entire people of Doba to cooperate with him and the chief of the area to save the only dam in the community from drying up completely.
“The strongest appeal is to the people who farm close to the dam and the base of the banks or allow contractors to win graves there to put an immediate stop to the bad practice to save it from collapse.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that this great asset is maintained to demonstrate to the government that we care for our own welfare and are prepared to continue to take care of any public property to convince it to respond favourably to our request to desilt the dam”, the assembly member said.
Already the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo has stated that a number of dams in the region have been earmarked for rehabilitation.
It is, therefore, the prayer of the people of Doba that their dam would be included in the package to bring relief to them.
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