FISH farmers along the Lower Volta Basin have called on the government to consider the establishment of a Lower Volta Basin Restoration and Development Fund to protect the livelihood of residents along the lake.
The farmers say they have lost economic opportunities, and as such there is mass migration from the area.
The situation is attributable to environmental degradation and pollution brought about by the construction of the Kpong and Akosombo dams.
According to the chairman of the South Tongu Fish Farmers Association (SOTFFA), Mr Julius Ameku, the loss of economic opportunities and mass migration had resulted in widespread poverty within the communities along the basin.
The fund, Mr Ameku said, would address the development deficit of communities such as North and South Tongu and Keta in the Volta Region; Dangme East (Ada) in the Greater Accra Region and Asuogyaman and Lower Manya in the Eastern Region; all along the Lower Volta Basin.
Currently the basin has been taken over by wild invasive aquatic weeds, which have adversely affected the socio-economic well-being of the people.
The group has also proposed the enactment of a legislative instrument (LI) to protect the Lower Basin, given that the Volta River Authority (VRA) Act 46 of 1961, and its subsequent amendments that established the VRA as managers of the two dams did not provide any support for the communities in the lower reaches of the dams.
In view of this, the association has petitioned the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology and the Members of Parliament (MPs) of the affected areas to help address the problem.
Mr Ameku told the Daily Graphic that the communities, with a population of nearly 700,000, had suffered systematic migration to the upper reaches of the two dams in pursuit of fishing and farming vocations.
He said environmental degradation within the basin over the last four decades had affected the living standards of the people and their situation had been compounded by water-related disease resulting from invasive aquatic weeds.
Life, he said, had become excruciating for the fishing communities that mainly drew their livelihood from fishing, farming, water transport and tourism, depending extensively on the Volta River.
He said education, which is key to national development, continued to decline following the loss of livelihood.
“Health issues have also arisen following dwindling fortunes along the basin over the last four decades while economic development of women continue to experience a downturn,” Mr Ameku said.
Successive governments, he also said, had failed to give any serious attention to addressing the environmental, social and economic problems occasioned by the construction of the two dams in the area.
Mr Ameku further said that whereas communities within the upper reaches of the two dams were settled and had remained beneficiaries of a trust fund to compensate them and restore their livelihoods over the years, little attention had been paid to the plight of the communities in the Lower Volta Basin.
“The general opinion is that if no urgent intervention takes place the watercourse will be completely blocked within the next few years by weeds,” he said, adding that considering the magnitude of the challenge, there was the urgent need to develop the equivalent of a Marshall Plan to lift the basin and its inhabitants from the deplorable state in which they find themselves”.
Mr Ameku expressed the opinion that the proposed regulation would arrest the decline while aiding wealth creation, reduce migration and also revive farming, fishing and allied industries in the catchment communities.
SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Tue, Aug 21, 2012
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