The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in collaboration with the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost irrigation farming.
The two institutions in a bid to improve agricultural productivity for farmers, especially smallholder farmers, in the country entered the five-year agreement that is aimed at significantly transforming the irrigation system for all year-round cultivation.
This collaboration is envisioned to foster groundbreaking solutions in livelihood options in agriculture – irrigation cropping, livestock rearing, and aquaculture, with a particular focus on providing solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Director General of IWMI, Dr. Mark Smith, in his remarks at a concise signing ceremony held in Accra, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, highlighting its potential to develop and enhance sustainable water and agricultural practices among farmers.
“We are thrilled to embark on this strategic partnership with GIDA. IWMI has been in Ghana for 20 years and working on water management and irrigation development in a variety of prospects in Ghana. With this partnership, we intend to deepen and make closer the strategic partnership we have with GIDA.
“We have a shared objective to support the development of irrigation in Ghana to ensure it is sustainable, inclusive, and productive. This partnership offers maximum potential for supporting and strengthening farmers, their livelihood and their family’s well-being,” he said.
He added that IWMI has quite a comprehensive monitoring framework for tracking the results and impacts of its projects to ensure strong evidence-based outcomes and tell the success of its partnerships.
The MoU underscores a shared vision of IWMI and GIDA to leverage their expertise in capacity building, technology and innovation for the benefit of smallholder and commercial farmers.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of GIDA, Ing. Richard Oppong Boateng, on his part, reiterated that GIDA is the state institution mandated to develop water resources for irrigated agriculture, assuring that the office is resolute to collaborate with key development partners like IWMI to transform the agriculture system.
“The Authority currently manages over 180 irrigation schemes and has the vision of developing the available water resources and irrigation potential of about 1.9 million hectares for livelihood options in agriculture i.e irrigation, livestock watering, and aquaculture at appropriate scales for smallholder and commercial farmers in all communities throughout the country,” he said.
Ing. Oppong Boateng said the partnership of IWMI/GIDA has birthed the introduction of chameleon sensors to regulate irrigation water requirements by crops. An intervention that has resulted in good water management practices by over a hundred smallholder farmers on the scheme.
On her part, Dr. Olufunke Cofie, the IWMI West Africa Regional Representative said the partnership will foster the ability to co-develop innovations with GIDA for beneficiaries like smallholder farmers, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations that are working with farmers.
“We have co-developed three innovations with GIDA already, one is about transforming waste into fertilizer which we have done together and it’s been commercialized,” she said.
This initiative comes at a pivotal moment when farmers in Ghana continue to embrace the innovative way of agricultural and irrigation water management.
With the promise of more reliable support from stakeholders, this partnership holds the potential to reshape the agricultural landscape for food security and nutrition.
