To explore all water resources for livelihood options in agriculture at appropriate scales for all communities.
MISSION
To formulate and execute plans to promote the development of land and water resources in Ghana for crop production, livestock watering, aquaculture, agricultural related industries and institutions within a sustainable environment.
FUNCTIONS
Formulate, develop and implement irrigation and drainage plans for all year round agriculture production in Ghana.
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
- Develop design standards for irrigation infrastructure.
- Designing irrigation infrastructure and related facilities e.g. dams, ponds, tube-wells, conveyance structures.
- Carrying out land-use planning in areas earmarked for irrigation development.
- Provide public irrigation facilities
- Provide technical services for the development of irrigation facilities.
- Providing technical and managerial services for effective use of irrigation facilities.
- Developing and disseminating adaptive irrigation technology.
- Liaising with other agencies to safeguard the healthy and safety of all people living within and around irrigation projects areas.
Brief profile of Irrigation Development Authority
Irrigation started in Ghana in the early nineteen sixties under the Land Planning and Soil Conservation Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Irrigation Development Authority (IDA) was set up in 1977 under the S. M. C. Decree 85. The Authority is wholly owned by the Government of Ghana and is finance by the government. By its act of incorporation, however, the Authority can borrow money from the open market for its development programme. This has Board of Directors and a Chief Executive who report direct to the Ministry of Agriculture (Minister of Food and Agriculture).
The Irrigation Development Authority has been primarily responsible for identifying possible irrigation projects, and in some instances involved in the management and maintenance of irrigation schemes
Currently, there are twenty two (22) Irrigations Project all over the country constructed by the Authority covering a total of 6,505 hectares (ha). In addition to this, there are 22 schemes constructed under the Small Scale Irrigation Development Project ( SSIDP) and 6 schemes under the (Small Farms Irrigation Project) SFIP. Each of these projects is less than 1,000 ha in size with the exception of the Tono and Kpong Irrigation Projects, which have about 2,500 ha and over developed. The main beneficiaries of the Irrigation Projects have been indigenous small-scale farmers. The outputs have however, not been very encouraging and the lack of maintenance of the projects have rendered most of the schemes unproductive.
For the future, the Authority is reviewing the state of all the existing projects in order to recommend measures for improved participation and operation by the beneficiaries. In the past the medium and large Irrigation Projects have been managed by IDA under liberal conditions which may be termed “Civil Service Approach”. This was not encouraging in generating enough revenue to support the operation and maintenance of the projects. The result is that most of these projects have run into a state of disrepair and require huge sums of money for their rehabilitation.
The future policy will be for IDA to help run medium and large irrigation projects along the lines of private enterprise.
Government’s Agricultural Sector Policy Objectives
As a public Authority, IDA is affected by policy issues and must appropriately respond to Government’s policy direction and concerns in the Agricultural Sector.
An important ingredient of the strategy in agriculture is the ability to harness water to support the growth of food and raw materials. The Irrigation Development Authority is expected to play an increasingly important role in the Government’s Comprehensive National Agricultural Strategy.
The priorities of the Authority will be on the development of small-scale and micro-scale schemes, better management of flood plains, and an optimum use of existing irrigation facilities as a means of increasing productivity.
Other major policy concerns of the Government which are expected to feature in the plan of the Authority are:
- Rehabilitation of most of the existing irrigation projects and taking steps to reduce operational costs, consolidate and optimize benefits.
- Restructuring of institutional arrangements to enhance efficiency and profit-making potential of the irrigation sector.
- Development of National Water Master Plan including criteria for the selection of new irrigation projects and establish priorities in the use of water resources, taking into account the important role of water management in maintaining land productivity.
- Accelerating research activities for development of high value irrigation crops and appropriate irrigation technology in the context of Ghana where lack of irrigation tradition is a major constraint.
- Strengthening the important support institutions for physical data, particularly the meteorological and hydrological services, to bring them to desired level of effectiveness.
The GIDA Corporate Plan
The GIDA Corporate Plan seeks to define its mission objectives and strategies to be used in achieving the objectives within the planned period.
It takes into account the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which affect the marketing of irrigation and other related business of the Authority.
The Corporate Plan also sets out the Authority’s development programmes and highlights issues and challenges entailed in achieving set targets or implementation of programme.
The 1995-year was the first time a formal corporate planning process was introduced into the management of the Authority. It presented an opportunity for strategic change of corporate direction to raise the moral of the workforce towards achieving higher productivity, and to improve existing management practices.
CORPORATE MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the new GIDA is in the business of marketing to its customers IRRIGATION and DRAINAGE, WATER MANAGEMENT, STOCKWATER and AQUACULTURE services and facilities.
These would be achieved in cooperation with other agencies within the framework of National Agricultural Policy of the country by: –
- Formulating plans for the development of the water resources of Ghana for irrigation, livestock improvement and fish culture.
- Provision of consultancy services in engineering, water management, project management including construction of irrigation, stock-water, aquaculture services by direct labour and provide the necessary supervision where required.
- Provision of training and research facilities in irrigated agriculture to our customers
- Ensure judicious resource utilization in the areas of land-use conservation, labour, plant and equipment.
- These would be achieved by having a well-trained staff, highly motivated workforce with capabilities for effective performance.