A Senior Programmes Manager at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Theophilus Adoko, has revealed that the rehabilitation of the Dawa dam in the Ningo Prampram constituency enabled farmers to earn extra income.

According to Theophilus Adoko, the presence of the dam has made it possible for farmers to engage in farming activities all-year round, even during the dry season.

He claimed that prior to the Dawa dam project, farming activities within the community were restricted to the rainy season. The GH¢570,903 project was under the petroleum revenue allocated for rehabilitation under Ghana Irrigation Development Authority of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

He made this revelation during a stakeholders’ engagement, at the Mensvic Hotel, on the impact evaluation report of some oil funded projects.

“There has also been the case of generating extra income as a result of farming activities that continued to go on in the dry season. Previously, when the dam wasn’t there, the farmers restricted their activities to when there was rain. Now, because the dam has been created and it is serving an irrigable area of 55 acres, farming still goes on for some farmers in the dry season, and this has led to the generation some extra income during the dry season,” he disclosed.

ACEP conducted several researches, funded by the Ghana Oil and Gas Inclusive Growth (GOGIG) on some oil funded projects in selected communities, to determine the impact of such projects on the said communities.

A Policy Analyst at ACEP, Linda Ahunu added that the overdependence on the Ohawu dam by residents took a toll on the finances of farmers. She said that the research conducted by the ACEP team revealed that rice farmers earned about GH¢1,400 annually, whereas maize farmers, made about GH¢2,500.