Fifty prefabricated warehouses established to prevent post-harvest losses – Minister
Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson, the Minister for Special Development Initiatives, has said government has established 50 preliminary warehouses with 1,000 Metric tonnes capacity across the country to help boost agricultural production.
She said the structures are to help reduce post-harvest losses among small holder farmers in the country.
Madam Koomson said this during a presentation on the topic: “Assessing of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP)” and “The Assessment of the One Village One Dam Initiative “, organized by the Ministry of Information on the fourth edition of the National Policy Summits (NPS)-2018 in Tamale.
The summit was attended by the Vice President, some ministers of state, Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Members of Parliament (MPs), traditional leaders and other stakeholders.
The two day summit was held to create a platform for explaining government’s policies, outlining their objectives, scope and specific areas that private capital was required to achieve set goals.
Madam Koomson said the Ministry would ensure that the implementation of government’s initiatives and the implementation of government’s flagship projects would be done through the three development authorities, the Northern Development Authority (NDA), the Middle Belt Development Authority and the Coastal Development Authority.
She said IPEP is a new development approach designed to help eradicate poverty, create jobs, infrastructural developments and address the various forms of inequalities in the country.
Madam Koomson said it was under IPEP that each of the 275 constituencies would be allocated with $1 million annually to improve on government’s priority areas such as the One Village One Dam, agriculture infrastructure (warehouses and markets), water for all projects, sanitation projects among others.
She said the $1 million was not meant for the constituencies to share but to use for developmental projects.
Madam Koomson said the Ministry has two approaches for the implementation of the 1 million US dollars per constituency, which is the ‘top-down’ approach including government’s priority initiative and the ‘bottom-up’ for the constituents infrastructure base assessment needs.
She said government’s priority areas consisted of the One Village One Dam (1V1D), prefabricated warehouses for the constituencies and the constituent’s infrastructure base assessment for where they want the initiatives to be established.
Madam Koomson said the government’s priority projects under IPEP, which were currently ongoing across the country included 1,000 community based water system, 1,000 -ten (10) water closet toilets with mechanised boreholes, 50 prefabricated warehouses of a 1,000 metric tonnes capacity and 570 small dams and dugouts and one ambulance per constituency.
Making a presentation on the topic: “The Assessment of the One Village One Dam Initiative”, she said the 1V1D was to help curb the issue of water insecurity in the three regions of the north through the construction of small dams and dugouts to increase access to water for small scale activities, reduce immigration during drought season in the north.
Madam Koomson said each small dam would have a land area ranging between 2- 3 hectares, maximum depth of the dam would be 5 meters, length of the environment ranging between 150 to 250 meters, also with water holding capacity of about 30,000 cubic meters tonnes.
During a question and interaction session, some of the participants urged the IPEP to intensify and ensure community participation through the local people to bring about effective management and sustainability of the initiatives implemented and help bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in the country.
They said the IPEP should put in place measures to curb unforeseen circumstances like the over flow and spillage of these small dams to help prevent casualties like the one that recently occurred with the Bagre Dam spillage.
Source: GNA