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A leading dry season farmer at Duong in the Nadowli-Kaleo District has appealed to government to extend the One-Village-One-Dam (1V1D) project to the community to enable them to maximize farming during the lean season.

Many farmers in the District are confronted with lack of irrigation facility, compelling them to resort to manually dug wells for farming activities during dry seasons.

Interacting with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Duong, Mr. Martin Wienaa, a Vegetable Farmer, described dry season farming as a highly lucrative venture but people were unwilling to take it up as a full time activity because of the absence of irrigation facility.

“Our major problem is water. Our tomatoes are all dying because there is no water, but if we have water, people from other places will also come here to farm,” he said.

“With the manual wells, you are unable to dig deep to get the water. If you are able to dig deep too, collecting the water is also a problem.”

He expressed worry about the lack of Agricultural Extension Officers in the community to educate local farmers on proper agronomic practices.

“First, we had one extension officer who visited our gardens to teach us a lot of things and that was very helpful. Now, we do not have an extension officer and we left alone to do our own thing,” he added.

Mr. Edward Kamkpi, the Assembly Member for Duong Electoral Area, said he had written to the District Assembly appealing for a dam for the community but it had not been forthcoming.

He explained that the District Chief Executive for the area promised to provide the community with an irrigation facility, however, that promise was yet to be redeemed.

Local farmers in the Region in recent times have called for the 1V1D programme, insisting that if implemented, would improve irrigation farming, which was a major booster to agriculture in Ghana.

It would also help provide the people with alternative source of livelihoods.