Professor Roger Kanton, a former Research Scientist with the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has urged the government to prioritise local expertise over costly consultancy services in tackling the drought challenges in Northern Ghana.
Prof Kanton’s call comes in response to recent comments by the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), Richard Oppong-Boateng, who revealed that it currently costs about $40,000 to develop an irrigation scheme for a hectare of farmland.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Prof Kanton challenged this figure, suggesting it is inflated and unnecessary.
He further criticised the reliance on consultancy services, which he claims significantly inflates project costs.
“This 1V1D policy didn’t work very well. If we can go back [to the] issue and then visit those dams and improve on them. Some just need only filtration. The GIDA person who told you that is just an estimate. The source of water bodies exists so you are not going to start from scratch. So, that amount that he gave you is unreasonably rather on the higher side. If you use our own local, proper and indigenous systems, we would have without putting so much money into consultancy.
“If he breaks down that $40, 000 per hectare dam, you will see that a lot of them go back to bureaucrats like them. They will put consultancy services and others. Consultancy services have always been our enemy. It also takes more than 50% of the project money. So, we can remove all these people…Use local expertise to reduce significantly and magnanimously the cost that they inflate project within this country,” he stated.
