Government has challenged research conducted by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana that over 90% of dams constructed under the 1 Village 1 Dam project can only be used for domestic activities.

According to Minister of state at the Agric Ministry, Gyeile Nurah, the findings of the research are false, misleading, and was conducted with ill motives.

“Let me answer the major question that on findings that say 90% of these dams that were constructed are not suitable and cannot be used for irrigation. The answer is false.

“We are now in the modern era of irrigation and people are making these pronouncements based on the fact that the only irrigation they know is gravity irrigation; a type of irrigation where water floods farming areas but that type of irrigation is grossly inefficient. So for someone to say the dams are not good for irrigation, the question now is that, on what basis is he judging?” he told JoyNews.

The Peasant Association of Ghana Commissioned research on the 1Village 1Dam initiative in the Upper West Region.

The findings of the research led by Prof. Joseph Yaaro of the Department of Agric at the University of Ghana concludes that most dams constructed under the project in the region can only be classified as domestic dams which cannot be used for irrigation.

But reacting to the findings, Mr. Gyeile Nurah questioned the motive behind the research.

“The only thing the researches failed to indicate was their objective for the research. Having an objective to criticize and assist the government to develop the project are two different things,” he said.

Meanwhile the Association of Peasant farmers still stand by their findings. Speaking to Evans Mensa on Newsnite, member of the research team Charles Nyaaba expressed disappointment in government for failing to contact them for the details of the report.

“For us, we are disappointed with the Minister coming out to just condemn the report without even seeing its details because we think that the report contains detailed information that will help government to make appropriate corrections,” he said.