Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, has assured farmers and contractors of the Kpong Irrigation Scheme of government’s commitment to resume work on the rehabilitation and modernisation of the scheme within the shortest possible time.

The Minister gave the assurance on Thursday during a working visit to the project sites at Asutsuare in the Greater Accra Region to acquaint himself with the progress of work and challenges affecting the project.

“I have received about four certificates asking for payments and I have forwarded them to the Ministry of Finance for immediate action… within the shortest possible time, payment will be effected and the work will resume on site,” Mr Opoku said.

The Kpong Irrigation Scheme Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project, under the World Bank-funded Food System Resilience Project (FSRP), covers a total area of 4,040 hectares.

The 22.5-million-dollar project, which commenced in November 2024, is currently about 75 per cent complete but has been suspended due to financial constraints.

Mr Opoku said irrigation development was central to the government’s Agriculture for Economic Transformation agenda and the Feed Ghana Programme, which sought to transition Ghana from rain-fed to year-round irrigation agriculture.

“Kpong happens to be the biggest irrigation infrastructure in Ghana, and this is where the attention must be,” he noted, adding that government would do everything possible to ensure the timely completion of the project.

He also announced the approval of Farmer Service Centres for the Left and Right Banks of the Kpong Scheme to support smallholder farmers with access to machinery, inputs, training and modern technologies, including precision agriculture tools.

During the visit, Mr Kofi Modzaka, Technical Supervising Consultant for the FSRP under the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), said the current phase of the project was a continuation of works initiated under the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP), completed in 2021.

He explained that the rehabilitation involved extensive civil works, including the conversion of open canals into closed pipe systems, canal lining, road rehabilitation, drainage works and the installation of automation and instrumentation systems.

Mr Modzaka said the conversion of about 62 kilometres of open channels into closed pipe systems under the FSRP was about 96 per cent complete, while the rehabilitation of main routes 65 per cent complete.

Automation and instrumentation works stood at about 30 per cent, with equipment yet to be transported into the country, he added.

“When all these are put together, overall completion is about 75 per cent. We are left with 25 per cent to complete the project,” Mr Modzaka said.

He noted that the full rehabilitation would improve water-use efficiency, increase agricultural production, enhance farmers’ incomes and reduce potential conflicts.

On behalf of farmers, Mr Charles Tetteh Hombey, President of the Kpong Irrigation Scheme Water Users Association, welcomed the Minister’s visit but expressed concern over market access for rice produced under the scheme.

“We produce, but we can’t sell. That is our major issue,” he said, appealing for the allocation of aggregators and off takers to purchase farmers’ rice, especially as some had defaulted on loans due to unsold produce.

He expressed anxiety over the suspension of works, warning that prolonged delays could adversely affect livelihoods in the area.

Mr Opoku said the government, through the National Food Buffer Stock Company, was working to address the marketing challenges, particularly by engaging millers and aggregators to mop up excess rice, to sustain farmer confidence and production.

The Minister, in his response, reaffirmed government’s support for farmers, stressing that functional irrigation systems were critical to national food security, especially in the face of climate variability.