The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has reached an agreement with the chiefs and people of Torgome in Volta Region to allow for the use of the land for the Kpone Irrigation Rehabilitation Project under the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP).
They arrived at the agreement during a meeting held at MoFA on Wednesday, July 14, 2021.
It would be recalled that the chiefs had threatened not to allow government to take all their lands for the GCAP Project without giving a portion of the farm.
But at the meeting with the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Government responded to the concerns of the chiefs.
The Kpone Irrigation Rehabilitation Project is being financed by the World Bank and implemented by the GCAP.
An estimated $34 million has already been invested in the project.
Speaking after listening to the concerns of the chiefs and people of Torgome, Dr. Afriyie Akoto observed how the Government of Ghana has had a longstanding relationship with Torgome dating back to the 1970s when an irrigation project was implemented in the area.
He said millions of dollars were invested in the said irrigation project.
According to him, after listening to the chiefs and the people of Torgome, he realized that they and Government had the same aspirations and that the fundamental problem was lack of information sharing.
He explained the condition under which Government has gone to borrow money to invest on the land.
He therefore called for cooperation between Government and the people of Torgome to ensure the Kpone Irrigation Rehabilitation Project was successfully implemented.
He warned against litigation issues to avoid scaring investors.
By Melvin Tarlue