The Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Alex Mould, has raised concerns over deteriorating agricultural infrastructure across Ghana’s Middle Belt following a week-long field assessment of key farming areas.
The seven-day tour covered parts of the Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo and Bono East regions, where a MiDA team assessed water resources, irrigation potential, agricultural value chains and coordination among key institutions to identify areas for strategic investment.
During the exercise, the team engaged traditional authorities, regional and district officials as well as private agribusiness operators. Technical inspections were also conducted on irrigation schemes, dams, inland valleys, markets and agro-processing facilities.
Mould said the tour revealed widespread neglect of infrastructure developed to support agricultural production.
“Going around the farming areas in this country has revealed that we have a lot of wasted assets,” he said. “Investments have been made over the years, but there has been a lot of neglect in terms of operations and maintenance.”
At the Subinja irrigation site, the team observed that key installations had been vandalised or removed. Mould said the pump house, which previously contained four pumps and an electricity transformer, had been stripped.
“The pump house originally contained four pumps, an electricity transformer, but these installations have since been stolen,” he said.
He noted that restoring the facility would require a coordinated effort involving the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
“To rehabilitate the dam, we will need GIDA to conduct a feasibility assessment on how to restore the equipment, dam and fields, rehabilitate the pump house, pumping and piping systems, and restore irrigation canals and reconnect electricity to the facility,” Mould said.
The MiDA CEO also highlighted underutilised irrigation capacity in rice-growing areas, particularly within the Tano North and South municipal districts.
“We just left a rice irrigation field that has the capacity to cultivate about 1,000 acres but is currently producing only about 300 acres,” he said.
According to him, the situation is partly due to an incomplete dam project initiated in 2008, which has limited the effectiveness of the irrigation scheme.
Mould said completing the dam infrastructure and constructing a concrete canal distribution system could enable farmers to cultivate the full 1,000 acres and support year-round farming.
“If we can supply water throughout the year, and provide improved agronomy practices, production could increase from about 1,000 tonnes of paddy rice annually to between 6,000 and 7,000 tonnes,” he added.
He described several of the sites visited as “brownfield opportunities”, explaining that rehabilitating existing infrastructure could rapidly expand agricultural output with targeted investment.
Mould added that increased production could support the development of agro-processing facilities, including rice mills, and help reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported food commodities.
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