The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Dr. Charles A. Abugre, has observed that the authority has regained the trust and confidence of the Ghanaian populace after attracting bad publicity for engaging in activities that were deemed unprofitable to the country.

Since taking office in June 2014, Dr. Abugre said he had successfully worked with the board and management of the authority to stabilise SADA from its internal challenges and refocus the institution on its core mandate, which is the long term development of the zone.

He said, in Accra, that the staff strength of the authority had also been beefed up and internal controls strengthened as part of efforts aimed at building a resilient institution that can respond to challenges while facilitating the long term development of the zone.

These structures, he said had placed SADA on a solid foundation to be able to smoothly facilitate the transformation of the Northern Savanna Ecological Zone (NSEZ) from a poverty-stricken area into an investment hub for local and foreign businesses to thrive.

"The first milestone is stabilizing the institution and building it for the purpose for which it was set up. The institution is now much more stronger, we have a lot more staff and we are present in all our regions and systems are also working," he said, when asked about the key milestones of SADA in recent times.

As a result of these milestones, the CEO said SADA had now "won back the trust and support of Ghanaians and its partners" as it works towards creating the enabling environment that will help attract investments into the bigger half of the country.

He bemoaned the current situation where despite the enormous potential of the NSEZ, which comprises 63 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in five administrative regions, the area is still the least developed in the country.

He attributed this abnormality to the inability of the nation as a whole to recognise and harness the vast potential of the zone into investment opportunities that can help lift millions out of poverty.

Role of irrigation 

Dr. Abugre said a recent survey showed that the NSEZ could easily become an economic growth pole of the country should its resources be properly harnessed. "Part of the experience of poverty [in the SADA zone] lies in the inability to recognise these resources and assets that lie there," he said.

This, he said, had been the concern of the revitalised SADA, which has been working at laying a solid foundation for commercial agriculture to thrive in the zone.

With about 54percent of the country's landmass being in the SADA zone, the CEO said the availability of proper irrigation facilities in the area could help turn it into the country's food basket and that will help reduce food imports while stemming the rising unemployment.

He added that an assessment of crop viabilities in the zone showed that 5million hectares of land in the area is suitable for rise should it be properly irrigated.

"Well over 2.5 million hectares of land is suitable for sugar cane. Also, the southern part of the SADA -- the Brong Ahafo, Volta and part of Salaga and Yendi in the Northern regions -- is suitable for bananas and even for cocoa, if we irrigate it well. So, the area lies vast and untapped and with the right mechanisms, it can become an economic hub," he said.
Interventions 

Although SADA is busy working on implementing its Master Plan -- a 25-year medium term development plan for the zone – Dr. Abugre said the authority had successfully implemented a series of interventions that were already yielding results.

He mentioned a joint venture irrigation scheme that is irrigating about 40,000 hectares of farmland in Yagaba in the Northern Region as one of the best schemes in the country. Another, he said was the millennium project, which has ensured that maternal mortality is eliminated completed.

Others, he said included a series of solar power companies that the authority is investing, the establishing of a shopping mall in Tamale, which will kick off this year, and the construction of a 10,000 hectare-irrigation facility at Nasia-Nabogre area.